KARACHI: A joint team comprising SSGC’s Counter Gas Theft Operations (CGTO) and Customer Relations departments (CRD) conducted raids on miscreants involved in blatant use of gas theft in the company’s franchise areas in Sindh and Balochistan.
The joint team conducted around thirteen raids of late in Karachi, Quetta and its surroundings and made numerous illegal disconnections. In Lyari, Karachi, a raid was conducted against the culprits involved in gas theft through fake meters in Usman Terrace and Zohra Arcade. In Jacobabad district, CGTO carried out a raided in a main market in Thul where culprits were using gas for power generation for running 42 KVA heavy generator by puncturing a 4-inch diameter gas pipeline.
The culprits in doing so were selling electricity to more than 20 shops in the market on commercial basis. The CGTO team disconnected illegal gas line and confiscated the generator, while shifting it to a Police Station in the jurisdiction of the Thul town. FIR has been lodged against the culprits and claim have been raised.
On the other hand in Quetta, a raid was conducted where the culprits were stealing gas from the main line to run their business. The CGTO Team disconnected the gas supply and confiscated all appliances being used in gas theft.
Other raids were conducted on a dates shop and some houses where gas was being stolen from direct line. Illegal gas connections were dismantled and claims were raised.
SSGC has expressed its determination to uproot the menace of gas theft, one of the key factors behind Unaccounted-for-Gas (UFG). The Gas Theft Control and Recovery Act passed by the National Assembly in 2016 and the establishment of Gas Utility Courts in 2017 have given the gas companies mandate to take an unprecedented legal action against the miscreants.