Government crackdown on power theft nets Rs 105 billion, 83,000 arrests

• Rs 430 million recovered from Peshawar, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Quetta.
• The crackdown will continue until power theft is completely eliminated.
• Effort part of the campaign to deal with the power crisis, creating fiscal space.
  

A nationwide campaign against power theft has successfully recovered Rs 105 billion, driven by the joint efforts of the government and the military, which has also led to the arrest of 83,000 people, Radio Pakistan reported on Sunday.

This effort is part of broader measures to address the power crisis and create fiscal space in the economy.

According Radio Pakistanfrom June 30 to July 17, an amount of over Rs 1.63 billion was collected by electricity thieves in Lahore, Gujranwala, Faisalabad, Multan and Islamabad.

An additional Rs 430 million was recovered from Peshawar, Hyderabad, Sukkur and Quetta during this period.

The report also said that the relevant institutions pledged to continue these operations until electricity theft is completely eliminated from the financially troubled country.

In March, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) launched a nationwide “massive crackdown” on electricity and gas theft.

Announcing the operation, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said there would be no discrimination during the campaign and all those responsible would be put behind bars.

“This preventive initiative aims to curb the rampant theft of basic utilities by ensuring fair distribution and access for all citizens,” Naqvi said in a post on social media platform X, after chairing a meeting on the issue.

Last month, in an interview with Geo News projection “Jirga”Federal Minister of Power (Department of Power) Awais Leghari disclosed that power theft was causing a blow of Rs 600 billion annually to the national exchequer.

The power minister said the federal government had asked Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Sindh to deal with power theft, while Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz had voluntarily started helping the federal government in this effort.

Leghari highlighted that Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) and tribal areas are suffering annual losses of Rs 137 billion. He noted that excluding Karachi, every year, Sindh loses Rs 51 billion to electricity theft, Punjab Rs 133 billion and Balochistan suffers losses of Rs 100 billion. Specifically, 65 billion rupees worth of electricity is stolen in Peshawar, Mardan, Dera Ismail Khan, Nowshera and Charsadda.

Saying that the government could not single out any province for electricity theft, the power czar acknowledged that attempts had been made to politicize the issue but assured that this menace would be tackled without any political showdown.