SUKKUR: Minister of State for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali has ordered suspension of 19 officers of the Sukkur Electric Power Company (Sepco) on charges of failure to perform duties in the best interest of the company and said meter readers are 100 per cent corrupt who have become millionaires through the illgotten money.

A list of the 50 most corrupt meter readers had been prepared against whom action would be launched soon, warned the minister at a press conference he held at WAPDA Rest House on Monday after presiding over a meeting with Sepco high-ups.Because of large-scale corruption by meter inspectors as well as meter readers, it had been decided to recruit young girls and women as meter readers in order to ensure correct meter reading and eliminate corruption, he said.

He said the magnitude of corruption in Sepco could be gauged by the story of only one corrupt lineman, Nadeem Shah, who was posted in Kashmore. The lineman had become a millionaire who owned hundreds of acres of land and a costly fourwheel land cruiser, he said, adding whenever he was transferred he obtained a stay order from the court to remain on the seat.

The minister said that a `highly corrupt XEN` in Gujranwala wasremoved from service but he also got a stay order. Therefore, he said, he appealed to the Chief Justice of Pakistan that the corrupt officials who had pushed the institution to the brink of collapse might not be granted relief in the form of stay orders.

He said that when power theft reached more than 90 per cent it became essential to launch an operation against thieves.

He said the Rs72 billion Sindh owed to power utilities would be received at any cost and said he had decided to talk to the prime minister about Sindh police`s not cooperating in action against power thieves and grant of stay in favour of corrupt officers. A policy would be formu-lated in this regard soon, he added.

The officers who had been placed under suspension are; XEN Zahoor Noonari, SDO Waheed Rajpar, SDO Noor Ahmed Chandio, SDO Mushtaq Soomro, SDO Abdul Rahim Bhutto, metering section supervisor, meter inspector Ali Hyder, metering section supervisor, meter inspector Mohabbat Ali Shah, Lineman Lala Nadeem, meter readers Rashid, Tahir,Ashfaq,AbdulMalik,Khadim HussainAbro,Altaf Jiskani,Ghulam Nabi, Muhammad Akram, Mazhar Memon and Hammad.

The minister said that departmental action had been initiated against the suspended officials and they would be sacked from service after conclusion of inquiry against them.