Crack down on power thieves

Statesman News Service

MALDA, Oct. 6: Electricity board officials have started visiting Puja pandals to check for power theft and to charge the organisers accordingly, said Mr Amalendu Maity, circle manager, State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd, today.

All Puja organisers, particularly the major ones, were consuming more power than the estimates declared in their applications, Mr Maity said, adding that groups of SEDCL officials have started assessment of power consumption in Puja pandals in this region to demand “additional cost” for “illegal excess consumption”. The checking, which began last evening, will continue till Wednesday night.

“Organisers have got power connections from different points of existing electrical lines for lighting arrangements, of which many have been identified as unofficial,” said an SEDCL engineer here, adding that meters have not been installed at the pandals to determine the exact amount of power being drawn from a particular source.

“We are trying to identify the Puja organisers who are consuming more power than estimated at the time of their applications for power connection. After estimating power consumption at a pandal we requesting organisers to pay maximum possible additional cost for excess consumption of power,” said Mr Maity.

“We do not force the Puja organisers to pay a penalty or the exact cost of consumption of power to avoid law and order problems, keeping in mind the festive mood of the people,” he added.

However, SEDCL sources said that the officials avoid claiming the exact cost of consumption for fear of retaliation. “The team members try to adjust with the organisers with the help of local political leaders and influential persons.”

It may be noted that the SEDCL had granted permission for power connections based on the statements of power consumption submitted by the Puja organisers and the amount deposited by them based on the cost of estimated consumption, as fixed by the SEDCL.

In English Bazaar it was found that a sector office of the SEDCL had granted permission to over 75 Puja organisers. Of them only 28 got permission to consume power from Sunday (Shashthi) to Wednesday (Navami) but all of them have been consuming excess power from Sunday, a scenario that looks likely to continue till Thursday (Dashami). The highest estimated payment of a Puja organiser was less than Rs. 13,000.