War on power theft paying off, claim officials
Umesh Dewan/TNS

Patiala, January 9
By the end of March this year, confided the PSPCL (Punjab State Power Corporation Limited) chairman-cum-Managing Director KD Chaudhuri to The Tribune, he expected all electricity meters to be shifted out of the premises so as to minimise chances of tampering with them. With the corporation also phasing out old meters and replacing them with electronic meters, it would become even more difficult to steal power in Punjab, he said.

The CMD, however, felt that power theft in the state is much less than many other states. While it is 10 to 14 per cent in Delhi, he points out, in Punjab it is still in the region of 6-8 per cent. This would come down to 4 per cent when all electricity meters are shifted out of the houses and establishments.

"The electronic meters retain memory for 70 days and, therefore, if the meter is somehow tampered with, it would be detected quite easily," says Chaudhri. Another hopeful sign, he says, is the increase in the number of applications for meters from slums.

"In Punjab there are 32 lakh consumers in rural areas and approximately 15 to 16 lakh consumers in the urban areas," notes the Chaudhri. He, however, blamed the unauthorised colonies and slums for the rise in theft.

Asked whether big sharks are being allowed to get away with power theft, Chaudhri replied in the negative and pointed out that a stiff penalty of Rs 4.33 crore had been imposed on JTG Alloy, a Mandi Gobindgarh based unit, and Rs. 2.09 crore had been imposed on RK Welds at Rajpura. "We are following a zero-tolerance policy towards power theft and we will not buckle under any pressure," claimed Chaudhri.

But why is no action taken against colluding officials or employees, the CMD was asked. He explained that suitable action is initiated only if the engineer or official has been posted for more than three months in the area where large-scale theft is detected. "I have been given full authority to deal with erring employees and I would welcome information about power theft," said Chaudhri while lamenting that public appeals for information in the past yielded poor or no response.

PSPCL claims that establishment of anti-power theft police stations in the state since February, 2009, has also contributed to the decline in pilferage of electricity." Earlier, it was cumbersome to even register FIRs against power theft but with these dedicated police stations, procedures have become faster. They also act as a deterrent," said Baljeet Singh, in charge of the police station at the PSPCL headquarters here.

Penalty realised for stealing power in Punjab is likely to go down this year, admit sources in the PSPCL. While Rs 300.86 crore were realised in the year 2009-10 ending in March last year, in the first seven months of the current fiscal year till October, the penalty realised was just Rs 142.59 crore, informs AK Verma, Director (Distribution).

While the PSPCL top brass attribute the declining figure to effective steps taken to stop power theft, others say it is due to waning enthusiasm following the unbundling of the state electricity board.

The Doaba region, North zone in PSPCL parlance, comprising Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Nawanshahr and Kapurthala reported the highest number of cases of power theft in both 2009-10 and also the first half of 2010-11. Ludhiana and Fatehgarh Sahib also recorded a rise in cases this year while the Malwa belt or the West Zone, which includes the home district of the Chief Minister, reported the least number of cases this year though the figure was second highest last year.