The Awareness & Prevention Wing of NAB Lahore called senior management of Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) over complaints of alleged corruption, power theft and bringing reforms in management related affairs of LESCO.
The briefing was laid forth by Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mujahid Pervaiz Chattha along with General Manager (Operations), Pervaiz Iqbal and Director Customer Services, Bashir Ahmed which was attended by senior Officers of Regional Bureau’s A&P Wing.
As per the details, NAB Lahore’s A&P Wing got a thorough briefing from LESCO senior management after receiving complaints of alleged corruption, electricity theft, quality of services being provided to general public along with redressal of public Complaints and overall performance of the LESCO.
During the briefing, NAB Lahore has sought electricity tariffs’ details of all private housing societies located in Lahore. Moreover, LESCO officials are also directed to provide details of cognizance taken over corruption practices committed through defective meters and electricity theft. NAB Lahore’s A&P Wing also sought details of actions being taken against LESCO employees found involved in providing assistance in electricity theft, during last five years. Smart Meters installation project’s details have also been demanded by NAB Lahore and an elucidation is being sought for not installation of Smart Meters in areas with high ratio of electricity theft.
During the briefing, the CEO LESCO brought forth the reservation of facing staff deficiency and exclaimed that since 2015 to date LESCO has not made recruitments, whereas, recently approval has been granted to LESCO for appointment of minimum necessary staff. The CEO briefed that LESCO has been facing 4.12% line losses but still the Company is more efficiently performing than Karachi’s Private Electricity Provider Company. He further briefed that LESCO had Rs 8 billion default three years earlier, while, currently LESCO has turned into a beneficiary Company which shows collection worth Rs 366 Billion, annually.
Mujahid Pervaiz Chattha informed that complaints against Fuel Price Adjustment Mechanism on part of Farmers have been receiving frequently. He continued by saying that LESCO has been waiting for some strict orders against dead electricity defaulters from NEPRA.
As per instructions leveled by Chairman NAB Justice Javed Iqbal, NAB’s A&P Wing has been striving hard to culminate the elements of corruption from government organizations. For this reason of enforcing transparency in government-run projects, routine briefings and suggestions have been forwarded to concerned organizations.
