KARACHI, March 12: The Karachi Electric Supply Company has sought support from the general public and the law enforcement agencies to combat the current spate of wire and equipment theft incidents at its sub stations resulting in power outages for the linked consumers, says a Press Release issued here today.
The power utility expressed great concern over these incidents of theft at KESC sub stations which appeared to be the work of an organized gang. The Press Release said, “not just an oft repeated obstacle to the electricity network, but this is also a human issue as it causes uncalled for power interruptions for the consumers.” Therefore, the Release continued, it was a responsibility of the whole society and the social organizations as well as the administration and law enforcement agencies to join hands with KESC to pin point the culprits and stop the theft incidents.
The Release also mentioned a recent communication to the City Police Officer and the Rangers Chief from the Director Security of KESC who referred to the alarming rise in the wire theft at power installations, sub stations and cable network, and said there seemed to be the work of an organized gang. He demanded proper support and protection from police and rangers departments to protect the electricity network and installations. The Release urged the local leaders and the social workers and organizations to support KESC in formation of Mohallah Committees and watch teams who would help safeguard assets and equipment of the sub stations located in the area.
The Press Release pointed out that over three dozen incidents of wire and panel theft from different sub stations of KESC had taken place in the past about two and a half months. At present, three thefts a day are reported at an average from somewhere or the other, across the KESC’s 6,500 square kilometers network of cables, poles, PMTs and sub stations. This not only causes financial and material loss to the KESC but to the consumers in the connected areas who have to suffer consequent power outage, the Press Release said.
During the recent weeks, the Release continued, incidents of wire and panel thefts had been reported from Gulistan-e-Johar, North Nazimabad, Malir, F. B. Area, Clifton, Khudad Colony, Gulshan Iqbal, Gulshan Hadeed, Memon Goth, Defence, Lyari and PECHS. The Press Release said that during the whole of last year, there had been 89 incidents of copper wire theft at transmission lines and circuits of KESC. However, this year, the sub stations had become target of theft incidents.
The Press Release maintained that active support from general public was essential to stop this criminal activity by the unidentified culprits. The Release further said that “an outage caused by wire theft is usually taken as unscheduled load shedding and the blame goes to KESC. But more than that, the KESC is hugely concerned about the undue problem faced by the families and other consumers connected to the affected sub stations. Repair and replacement work sometimes takes a few hours to complete and during that period, power cannot be supplied to the consumers in spite of its availability. The time and effort spent on repair and replacement at the theft spots also curtailed the response activity to the consumers’ complaints, the Press Release added.
