'Remote control' used to steal power

By Divya Sreedharan

BANGALORE, APRIL 30. Can one steal power through remote control? One City industrialist did just that to cut down his electricity bills.

And, he succeeded very well indeed till the Vigilance Wing of the Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Limited (KPTCL) discovered his game. Sometime in February this year, the Vigilance Wing raided the industrialist's plastics unit on Mysore Road.

The KPTCL DIG Vigilance, Mr. M.K. Nagaraj, said the industrialist had been manipulating the electricity meter at his establishment by using a two-way switch. The switch was connected to a tri- vector meter. ``The switch was on the first floor while the meter was inside the factory. When the switch was turned off, the meter worked, but if the switch was on, the meter didn't run,'' Mr. Nagaraj told The Hindu.

After removing the device, the Vigilance officials fixed a parallel meter to determine how power was stolen. ``Earlier, he used to pay just Rs. 2,500 to Rs. 3,000 a month as his electricity bill. When we fixed the parallel meter, his bill jumped to over Rs. 12,500 a month,'' the official explained.

Apparently, the device was supplied to the industrialist by an out-of-State manufacturer. Mr. Nagaraj said that this was the first time in the history of the erstwhile KEB and the present KPTCL, that such a device was used to steal power. The Vigilance Wing has handed over the device to the Indian Institute of Science (IISc.) for investigation.

`In-house corruption': In another case, the Vigilance Wing found that one of the KPTCL's own employees, a meter reader, had been running a factory that supplied fake seals for meters. The employee had been flourishing in this business for a few years.

Though it is a known fact that corruption is rampant in the KPTCL, such clandestine activities peaked in 1985 when the KEB was still in existence, according to the Vigilance Wing officials. Mr. Nagaraj maintained that things had improved after the KPTCL was formed.

Such corruption, however, is not restricted to the lower-level employees alone. In fact, the Vigilance Wing recently chargesheeted the KPTCL Director Distribution, Mr. N. Vijayabhaskar, for ``causing pecuniary losses to the company''. The official reportedly issued illegal memos to pay for sub- standard works. This was in violation of the ESR (Electricity Supply Regulations) of the KPTCL. ``Such violations cause losses of crores of rupees to the KPTCL,'' Mr. Nagaraj said.

It may be recalled that the Vigilance Wing had earlier raided the house of the then KEB Member Technical, Mr. D.S. Palekar, for possessing property disproportionate to his known sources of income. Though the Vigilance Wing has completed its investigation, it awaits the Government's sanction to file a chargesheet against Mr. Palekar who, incidentally, has been reinstated as a Special Officer Reforms with the KPTCL.

`Pulikeshi Pade': A ``Pulikeshi Pade'' was launched in the latter half of 2000 to help the Vigilance Wing to detect cases of power theft and illegal connections. The force comprises KPTCL officers from the O&M divisions (operation and maintenance), and is spread throughout the State. It detects power theft and collects back billing charges.

While Mr. Nagaraj admitted that the Pulikeshi Pade did not do well initially, he said that work had now picked up. ``It collected Rs. 1.72 crores as back billing charges in February,'' he added.

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