Assault on Additional SE
No raids from July 1: Power staff
Varinder Walia
Tribune News Service

Amritsar, June 23
The Operation and Enforcement wings of the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) which have detected power theft to the tune of Rs 2.47 crore in the border zone in just 20 days, now find it difficult to conduct further raids without adequate security cover in the wake of the assault on Additional SE Amrik Singh here yesterday.

PSEB Engineers Association joint secretary Jagjit Singh Suchu said no raids would be conducted from July 1 if the culprits were not nabbed by the police. The association alleged that unidentified persons had attacked the Additional SE at the behest of certain influential persons who were caught red-handed by the team headed by him.

Though the police has arrested Harpreet Singh, an employee of the PSEB, on the basis of the complaint of the Additional SE, yet the association wants some outsiders involved in the attack to be arrested.

The association said the Operation wing had detected theft of power in June to the tune of Rs 1.40 crore, whereas in April and May it was only Rs 1.10 crore in border zone The Enforcement wing also detected the power theft of Rs 1.21 crore during the same period, giving clear indication that there was rampant power theft in the region.

A day before the attack, Additional SE Amrik Singh raided the premises of Baba Kumma Engineering College, near zero line, and found power theft to the tune of Rs 18.30 crore. The raiding party found that the college had tampered with the M&T seals fixed on the meter. However, while talking to The Tribune, Baba Narpinder Singh alleged that the PSEB had conducted raid due to political reasons since he had supported the Congress during the recently held Parliamentary elections. He refuted the charges that the college indulged in power theft.

Similarly, the Enforcement wing detected power theft to the tune of Rs 6.24 lakh of an ice factory of Chheharta. Many notices were served on the defaulters, including a club running in the Summer Palace of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Deputy Commissioner Kahan Singh Pannu had already revealed that the Additional SE became the target for being “honest, straightforward and strict”.