Drive to check power theft

Statesman News Service

MALDA, Sept. 30: Vigilance officials of the state electricity department have launched a special drive to identify departmental staff, allegedly involved in power theft.

Vigilance officials raided the houses of suspected power department employees in Malda and the two Dinajpur districts recently and charged large amounts of penalty on the spot after detecting tempering and manipulation of meters and reading books at their residence. It was learnt that more than eight power department employees have been penalised after last week's raids in this region.

The department identified the errant workers by keeping a watch on their power bills. The bills registered abnormally low consumption and the practice was continuing for months.

During the raids the vigilance officials identified gadgets run by electricity in their houses and estimated the cost of monthly power consumption. The giveaway differences prompted the department to run a check and it was detected that the errant staffs had tampered with the meters to evade the departmental meter reading system.

The chief circle manager of the state electricity distribution company limited Mr A Maity admitted the problem and said: “ Not only departmental staffs, any person found guilty of similar crime would be penalized. He, however, did not disclose what steps the department would take against the staffs found guilty.