25 teams formed to identify electricity thefts, administration to take strict action
11 Jan 2015 5:03 AM IST
With the GB Nagar district facing acute power crisis especially during the summer season, the district administration has announced to launch a massive drive against electricity thefts. The administration announced to come down heavily by forming as many as 25 teams including officials of the electricity department and local police too. The officials said that action will also be taken against defaulters with the dues amounting to a total of Rs 33 crore.
After getting the go-ahead from senior officials of the state government to crack down on electricity thefts, district administration has taken up the initiative to form teams to collect dues and embark on raids and book defaulters under stringent laws. Each team will have one executive engineer, two officers on special duty (OSD) and local police personnel. “As the state government is working round the clock to provide 24-hour electricity in every nook and corner, the need of the hour is to stop thefts and to collect electricity bills from every single consumer with in a given time-frame. With this move of the department, genuine consumers will get more electricity and will also help in reducing power shortage,” said Chandrakant, District Magistrate of GB Nagar.
According to a survey conducted by NPCL, out of nearly 1.31 lakh houses in rural belt, only 1.10 lakh houses are genuine consumers and the rest have acquired illegal connection. In the urban areas, out of nearly 1.6 lakh houses, only 1.30 lakh have power connection. However, the officials are yet to ascertain the exact number of households indulging in power thefts in urban areas as most of the buildings in urban areas are multi-storeyed or group housing societies. As far as defaulters are concerned, the power department has discovered that more than 9,200 defaulters exist and the due amount is worth Rs 33 crore.
“As more than 10 percent electricity is being stolen, it has resulted in loss of government revenue. As a result of this, we have decided to detect thefts and act against defaulters. We are going to launch a helpline where one can inform us about electricity thefts,” said Arvind Rajvedi, Superintending Engineer of PVVNL.
After getting the go-ahead from senior officials of the state government to crack down on electricity thefts, district administration has taken up the initiative to form teams to collect dues and embark on raids and book defaulters under stringent laws. Each team will have one executive engineer, two officers on special duty (OSD) and local police personnel. “As the state government is working round the clock to provide 24-hour electricity in every nook and corner, the need of the hour is to stop thefts and to collect electricity bills from every single consumer with in a given time-frame. With this move of the department, genuine consumers will get more electricity and will also help in reducing power shortage,” said Chandrakant, District Magistrate of GB Nagar.
According to a survey conducted by NPCL, out of nearly 1.31 lakh houses in rural belt, only 1.10 lakh houses are genuine consumers and the rest have acquired illegal connection. In the urban areas, out of nearly 1.6 lakh houses, only 1.30 lakh have power connection. However, the officials are yet to ascertain the exact number of households indulging in power thefts in urban areas as most of the buildings in urban areas are multi-storeyed or group housing societies. As far as defaulters are concerned, the power department has discovered that more than 9,200 defaulters exist and the due amount is worth Rs 33 crore.
“As more than 10 percent electricity is being stolen, it has resulted in loss of government revenue. As a result of this, we have decided to detect thefts and act against defaulters. We are going to launch a helpline where one can inform us about electricity thefts,” said Arvind Rajvedi, Superintending Engineer of PVVNL.
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