PCL drive: Better late than never!

TWO YEARS after former chief secy Jawed Usmani issued orders for the drive, power corpn wakes up and adds 13 lakh new consumers

LUCKNOW: The ongoing anti-power theft drive, that has already seen more than 13 lakh new electricity connections adding to the list of the legitimate consumers just in a month, is a step taken a tad late by the UP Power Corporation Ltd (UPPCL).

The power corporation might have achieved the target of giving 25 lakh new power connections and checking pilferage to some extent long back had it acted upon the directions issued to it two years ago. Former chief secretary Jawed Usmani had asked the energy department in April 2012 to issue power connections to all urban consumers who were consuming electricity illegally.

“All urban consumers should be identified on the basis of voter list/census house list and then regularise their illegal power connections to recover money from them. Similarly, people staying in unauthorised colonies should also be given regular power connections,” Usmani said in a letter to then principal secretary, energy Rajiv Kapoor on April 22, 2012.

Kapoor on his part had passed on the instructions to the UPPCL asking the management to act accordingly. “But the UPPCL remained sitting on the directions for more than two years and allowed itself to suffer losses,” said UP Rajya Vidyut Upbhokta Parisahd president Avadhesh Kumar Verma, demanding an explanation for the delay. The current two-month statewide drive against power theft launched on July 1 after new chief secretary’s Alok Ranjan’s directives seems to be paying good dividends, though.

The government had given the UPPCL the target of 25 lakh new connections in two months and the corporation achieved half the target in less than a month.

A report compiled by the UPPCL’s commercial department shows that a total of 13,28285 new connections were issued by July 31 even as the drive will continue for a month more. Among the discoms, the Poorvanchal (Varanasi) with 4,65,672 new connections is leading other discoms. With 3,57,278 connections so far, Daksninchal (Agra) discom is second while Madhyanchal (Lucknow) and Paschimanchal (Meerut) come third and second with 3,54,144 and 1,39,582 new connections, respectively.

The checking teams also enhanced the power load of 1,34,098 consumers, replaced 93,365 meters and also lodged FIRs against 9684 consumers for power theft. Sources, however, said though the corporation claimed to have issued more than 13 lakh new power connections in a month, it was not able to provide meters to all these consumers because of the shortage of meters. “Meters are being arranged,” said an official.