The Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) on Friday suspended its two employees and terminated the services of a contractual staff member for their alleged involvement in a scam involving illegal electricity meter connections in the Aggar Nagar division.
The suspended officials have been identified as Amandeep Singh (junior engineer) and Satnam Singh (consumer clerk). Meanwhile, Manpreet Singh, a staffer employed under a private contractor, was found to be the prime accused and his services were terminated. He is currently absconding and a formal complaint has been registered against him to police authorities.
According to senior PSPCL officials, the accused exploited a loophole in the department’s SAP-based online system, which assigns a unique business partner number to every consumer applying for new meter connections to manage their applications, billing and meter status.
The accused allegedly misused this system to issue illegal meter connections to wrongful applicants using the business partner numbers of rightful ones, they added.
Officials further explained that when a new meter connection is applied for, the system either clears the application if all documents are in order or puts it under “back refer” status if documents are incomplete. The accused took advantage of this by manipulating data from “back refer” applicants and entering it in the ‘partner’ section of rightful consumer applications, a flaw in the system that doesn’t generate a separate ID but allows another connection under the same business partner number.
The accused, in return for bribes disguised as departmental charges, these illegal connections were issued under existing BP numbers, which is completely unauthorised.
{{/usCountry}}The accused, in return for bribes disguised as departmental charges, these illegal connections were issued under existing BP numbers, which is completely unauthorised.
{{/usCountry}}The fraud came to light after some consumers approached the department, stating they had not received electricity bills for over a year. Additionally, an RTI activist — Kimti Rawal — also flagged this issue through a written complaint dated July 20 to higher authorities in Patiala, raising alarms over the scam, seeking a timely action.
Following this, the PSPCL initiated a checking drive and discovered that these consumers had been issued illegal meter connections under another individual’s business partner number.
Acknowledging the disciplinary action, chief engineer Jagdev Hans said, “The department reviewed all meter connections issued over the past year after receiving the complaint and found that 10 out of over 400 back refer cases were fraudulently cleared. In response, all 10 domestic connections of 1 KW have been uninstalled and recovery of power charges is underway.”
He further noted that a request has been made to higher authorities in Patiala for an independent inquiry. “We have zero tolerance for corruption,” he added.