UP government to crack of power pilferers

LUCKNOW: UP cabinet on Tuesday gave its nod to establishment of dedicated police stations in all 75 districts of UP to check power theft. The move comes amid recurrent incidents of power pilferage to the tune of over 30% causing massive revenue losses to the state government.

Briefing reporters after the cabinet meeting, energy minister and state government spokesperson, Shrikant Sharma said that at least 28 police personnel headed by an inspector would be deployed in each police station in every district.

The proposal to establish a dedicated police station was mooted during the previous Akhilesh Yadav regime but it could not be implemented after it was kept pending in the cabinet. Soon after the BJP stormed to power it expedited the proposal and formalized the rules and act under which cases of power theft would be registered.

Sources said that the energy department wrote to the home department seeking its permission to establish police outposts in selected few districts. Agra was initially selected for the purpose.

UP government to get cracking of power pilferers also comes in the wake of recurrent line losses to the tune of over 30% despite the Central Electricity Authority (CEC) asking the state government to bring it down to at least 15%.[Courtesy;The Times of India] – Authorities in India’s northern state of Uttar Pradesh will set up police stations to curb power theft in a bis to minimize power loss to the state exchequer, officials said Wednesday.
“The government has decided to set up one police station in each district to check power theft and minimize power loss in the state,” a local government official said. “The decision was taken at a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in Lucknow yesterday.”
The new police stations will reportedly function under power distribution companies.
According to officials, the step was taken to bring down the distribution loss following federal government’s clarification that it would compensate only 15 percent power loss.
At present, 33 enforcement units are working in the state to curb the power theft and the government has sanctioned 55 more units for the purpose[Courtesy:www.xinhauanet.com]