Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) Chief Executive Officer Engineer Shahid Haider said on Tuesday that reforms are ongoing across the LESCO region to improve the electricity transmission system and to provide better facilities to consumers.
In this regard, he told media here, the GSO (Grid System Operation) teams under the supervision of Chief Engineer (Operation and Maintenance-O&M) T&G are carrying out numerous tasks to keep the system fully stable and robust apart from annual maintenance and development works. According to Performance Review Report of O&M (T&G) Department on system up-gradation and strengthening of LESCO transmission system, he said that GSO Circle teams carried out the repair works of 132kV system of LESCO last month, adding that eight 11kV new feeders were launched, besides replacement of 11 current transformers, 11kV and 132kV lightning arresters, four battery banks and 30 over-current relays, and installation of five new 11kV panels. The teams, he said, also attended 433 Thermo vision hotspots, washed disc insulator, replaced bad disc insulator and jumpers, repaired and replaced conductors, installed import/export meters on transmission line and replaced 11kV incoming and outgoing panels. The CEO Engineer Shahid Haider said that O&M (T&G) Department also completed the tasks of identification and rectification of critical faults on transmission line and transformers, cleaning of control room and its panels, besides serving notices on owners of houses constructed illegally under 132kv transmission lines. He said that LESCO is working hard to achieve its target of eliminating all the obstacles facing the system for which a number of concrete steps have been taken to make the system more robust and better, due to which customers were being provided uninterrupted power. Chief Engineer O&M (T&G) said that system improvement work is going on for which the LESCO management appreciates the performance of all the field staff.
Federal Secretary, Ministry of Energy (Power Division), Rashid Mahmood Langrial on Tuesday chaired a high-level video-link meeting with all the provincial chief secretaries, Inspectors General of Police (IGPs) and high-up of all the power distribution companies (Discos) to discuss ways and means to control electricity theft in the country. Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) Chief Executive Officer Engineer Shahid Haider, Director (Customer Services) Rai Muhammad Asghar, and Director (CMU/Recovery) Rai Masood Kharal represented LESCO in the meeting, according to the company’s spokesperson. The meeting focused on a single point agenda of curbing power theft, and important decisions were made including utilizing all possible measures to prevent theft of electricity; compiling lists of areas where power theft ratio was high, and also the lists of people, who make trouble, misbehave and even resort to violence against the LESCO field staff. The participants of the meeting expressed the resolve that electricity thieves would be dealt with iron hands. In this connection, the respective Disco could seek help from the respective police and district administration, Commissioner, Deputy and Assistant Commissioners.
Moreover, Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) has removed SDO (Sub-Divisional Officer) from service on the charges of over-billing. According to LESCO spokesperson here on Tuesday, the company’s Chief Executive Officer Engineer Shahid Haider ordered removal from service with immediate effect for SDO (Kahna Sub-Division) Amir Aziz after the charges of over-billing proved against him in the departmental inquiry. It was proved in the inquiry that SDO Amir Aziz charged more than 650,000 extra units to consumers, he added. Meanwhile, the LESCO also got registered an FIR in the Islampura Police Station against the LESCO consumer Hamayun Haris and the lawyers, who tortured X-En (Executive Engineer) Amir Nawaz and SDO Salahuddin (Shalamar Sub-Division) on the premises of Consumer Court.
