The vigilance team of the power discom Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitaran Nigam (DHBVN) on Tuesday morning found 22 police personnel of the city engaged in power theft. The team had received anonymous complaints of electricity theft through illegal power connections and meter tampering by police personnel at Police Lines near the civil hospital.
The team reached the site at 6am and conducted inspection till 11am. It found several wires hanging from the main line and some damaged meters. The team disconnected power connections to these houses and sent the tampered meters for lab tests.
Police Lines has 500 flats in which personnel of various ranks reside.
Navin Verma, superintending engineer, DHBVN Gurgaon, said, “Power theft has been a prime concern for us as it causes irreparable damage to power distribution. We are trying our best to improve the situation. Those who have been caught for theft and meter tampering will be treated as per the law for the offence.”
He said those caught will have to pay penalty as per rules. There is a provision of three years’ imprisonment or fine. If a person does not pay the fine, there is a provision of filing an FIR, he added.
“There is a formula for imposing penalty. The person will have to pay the whole year’s electricity bill in one go, which can be doubled. The year is calculated from the date of action,” Verma said.
The vigilance team was surprised to find police personnel involved in power theft.
“Even though they are lower-ranked police personnel, such acts brings a bad name to the department. We were shocked to see as many as 17 wires hanging from windows, drawing electricity from the main line. Many of the personnel found involved had meters at home,” a DHBVN official said.
According to discom officials, a major cause of the power outages affecting many parts of the city is electricity theft or line loss.
“As many as 74 feeders have been identified in which the loss is more than 50%. It is a huge problem and the only way to check it is to shut down the feeders for scheduled cuts,” said the DHBVN official, adding that the government has directed them to cut the power losses.
Responding to the incident, Manish Sehgal, spokesperson, Gurgaon police, said, “Lawful action will certainly be initiated against those found guilty of power theft. We will initiate action after receiving a report from the DHBVN.”
