E-Paper
5 raids in Ludhiana in August, over ₹2.5-cr fines slapped: PSPCL
According to the information, ₹82-lakh fines for 173 cases of power theft, ₹8.25-lakh fines for 34 incidents of unauthorised use of electricity and ₹4.86-lakh penalties were imposed for 114 cases of unauthorised electricity after a raid on August 10
Officials of the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) said on Tuesday penalties worth ₹2.5 crore have been imposed for power after five raids in August so far.
They added that the raids were conducted on August 10, 17, 20, 24 and 25.
According to the information, ₹82-lakh fines for 173 cases of power theft, ₹8.25-lakh fines for 34 incidents of unauthorised use of electricity and ₹4.86-lakh penalties were imposed for 114 cases of unauthorised electricity after a raid on August 10.
The raids covered Focal Point, Jagraon, Khanna and the new colonies coming up in the Aggar Nagar division.
In the parlance of the PSPCL, unauthorised electricity is a violation when a consumer puts more than the sanctioned load of the electricity on the grid. Unauthorised use of electricity is when a connection used as domestic is being used for commercial purposes.
In the raids conducted across the city on August 17, 46 cases of power thefts were flagged, and fines worth ₹22.41 lakh were slapped on the violators. Additionally, officials found 17 cases of unauthorised use of electricity and issued fines worth ₹5.63 lakh. For 103 cases of unauthorised electricity found, fines amounting to ₹3.4 lakh were issued.
In a raid in Dugri’s CRPF Colony on August 20, officials found 37 cases of theft and 25-lakh fines were imposed.
To be sure, the colony in question is not linked to the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) at present. There was a CRPF camp in the area long ago, which is where the name stems from.
In raids across the city on August 24, 112 cases of theft, 15 of unauthorised use of electricity and 160 incidents of unauthorised electricity were found.
Officials slapped fines worth ₹65.1 lakh, ₹4.67 lakh and ₹8.17 for the three violations, respectively.
In raids that spanned across the city on August 25, 73 cases of theft (fines worth ₹42.22 lakh), 15 cases of nauthorised use of electricity (fines worth ₹7.22 lakh) and 120 violations on account of unauthorised electricity (fines worth ₹4.3lakh) were uncovered.
Till July, the PSPCL had carried out 40 raids and issued fines worth nearly ₹7.8 crore.
Central zone chief engineer Jagdev Singh Hans said, “We will continue the raids till we root out cases of theft.”
