ISLAMABAD: Agitated over unrelenting power theft across the country, a parliamentary body has come up with a novel idea to get religious decrees (fatwas) issued against the menace so people could stop indulging in such practices.
The out of the blue proposal was mooted by a sub-committee of the Standing Committee on Power with Senator Nauman Wazir Khattak in the chair. The committee said it would be helpful to sensitise the people about power theft through fatwas with a warning of consequences of the crime in the life and the hereafter, according to the report.
During their briefing, the power division officials told the Senate sub-committee members that distribution companies, discos, were suffering line losses worth about 17 per cent due to the electricity theft.
They said the highest losses were incurred by Peshawar Electric Supply Company (PESCO) with 37.4pc, Sukkur Electric Supply Company (SEPCO) with 36.5pc and Hyderabad Electric Supply Company with 30.1pc.
It was also briefed during the meeting that power theft and technical cost the government Rs 56 billion between July 2017 and May 2018.
