Big units stealing power, APDCL leaking revenue

Rs 30 crore lost every year due to rampant theft, says Power minister

OUR STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, Sept 14: It is a cruel paradox that decades of ineffective Congress rule has bestowed upon Assam. Despite the State’s rich reserves of coal, crude and tural gas, as well as hydro, solar and wind power potential, its people have been made to endure long hours without power every day. Along with this general suffering, the State-owned Assam Power Distribution Company Limited (APDCL) has been losing Rs 30 crore per year due to rampant power theft. And some of these power thieves are big fish.

The loadshedding problem has assumed serious dimensions due to power theft by a section of big industrial units across the State to meet their full power requirements. This is one of the main reasons behind the APDCL’s continuing loss of revenue yearly.

Talking to The Sentinel, State Power minister Pallav Lochon Das said, “We have found out that APDCL is losing Rs 30 crore as annual revenue due to rampant power theft,” adding, “There are two categories of power theft – one done by general public and another done by a section of big industries.”

Das said theft of power by such big industrial units, which need huge supply of power, results in exponential revenue loss for the State. “We are trying to put in place a mechanism to minimize the problem of power theft. We will soon start public awareness campaigns on the issue.”

On the issue of electrifying all villages in the State, as promised by the BJP in its ‘Vision Document’, the Power minister said, “We are trying to electrify all villages of the State by the end of 2017.”