K-Electric has defended its position as far as recent incidents of rain-related deaths in Karachi are concerned, arguing that most of the accidents happened because of illegal connections. Chairman of the Company Ikram Sehgal and Chief Distribution Officer Amer Zia told Senate’s Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat there were 300,000 to 500,000 kundas (illegal connections), which constitute 16% of the total connections, and these generally result it fatal and non-fatal accidents during rainy season.
Apart from the humanitarian aspect of the menace that the KE officials highlighted, the illegal connections are mainly to be blamed for problems that beset the power sector of the country. It is all the more regrettable that this is not the recent phenomenon as the practice is going on for decades and continued even during all regimes including military ones. No government could take effective measures to get rid of these kundas which speaks volumes about power and strength of the theft mafia and helplessness of the state apparatus. How can an entity become manageable and profitable when it is allowed to bleed in this way? It is because of these dare-devil thieves that K-Electric and WAPDA are forced to seek frequent upward revision in prices of electricity with known consequences for the economy and the honest consumer. WAPDA is already working on a plan to install ABC (Aerial Bundle Cable) system which is kunda and temper proof and KE has announced to pursue a similar plan. However, presently the plan is limited to transmission system whereas theft would be effectively checked if distribution lines too are replaced with similar system.
