Posh neighbourhoods of Gurugram guilty of major electricity theft

gurugram: In order to prevent its distribution losses due to power thefts, the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) have begun to take action against those who steal power. Interestingly, more people from the urban areas like Sushant Lok, DLF, South City, Sector-54 and Sector-45 seem to be indulging in power thefts than in the rural areas. According to power department officials, 165 persons have been penalised from these colonies for the stealing power in the month of August.

245 persons were fined by the public officials from urban Gurugram for power thefts during this one month. In effect, the DHBVN was able to recover Rs 1,70,00,000 from the offenders. During the inspection, the officials found that the offenders had installed faulty metres.

Power thefts were also detected from Badshahpur and Sohna division. Line losses due to power thefts has been one of the major challenges for the DHBVN officials. While the officials claim that power theft has been brought down from 20 per cent to 17 per cent, the rate of losses is still very high. While the officials have been setting the target of bringing down the line losses to single digits, it has not been able to achieve the target.

"We are now beginning to act sternly against those who are stealing electricity. Our investigations revealed that a large number of people from posh neighbourhoods were involved in stealing the electricity," said an official from DHBVN.

It is expected that the DHBVN on yearly basis incurs losses of Rs 400 crore due to power thefts and line losses. More than 3,000 people in 2019 were fined by the power department for stealing power. There were plans by the state power department to ramp up the power infrastructure, which has been delayed due to the pandemic.