The SSGC has strengthened its crackdown on gas thieves in its franchise regions of Sindh and Balochistan, according to a handout published here on Thursday.
It stated that the Company’s Counter Gas Theft Operations (CGTO) Wing, in conjunction with the Recovery Department, severed unlawful connections of customers who were taking gas straight from household meters for commercial purposes.
Raids were carried out in the ancient Karachi city localities of Soldier Bazar, Ranchore Line, and Ram Swamy, where 5 meters were suspected of being tampered with and 3 were discovered to be Passing Unregistered Gas (PUG), indicating gas consumption.
A combined raid was carried out by the Customer Relations Department (CRD) team in Karachi’s Gul Hasan Town, near old Sabzi Mandi, where gas was unlawfully supplied to 2,500 homes via SSGC’s 63 mm PE line via three tap sites. CRD’s raiding team unplugged all connections.
The theft volume was estimated at 2,400,000 cms per year (Rs. 75,000,000/-). The CRD team also raided the Shanti Nagar (Sindhi Para) locality in Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Karachi, where inhabitants were being supplied with gas via rubber pipes to eight residences. The theft volume in this case was estimated at 7,680 cms per year (Rs. 240,000/-).
CRD discovered two different home theft incidents in Hyderabad: Umrani Mohalla and Haala Naka, where people had placed theft clamps of 6″ dia. feeder main for supplying gas to 10 houses and clamps of 2″ dia. feeder main for illegal gas supply to 15 dwellings, respectively. The raiding teams removed the clamps quickly.
SSGC continues to pursue its aim of combating gas theft, which is one of the leading sources of Unaccounted-for-Gas (UFG) or line losses that have a financial impact on gas utilities.
Maria Ghanchi