The move will also help in increasing the conviction rate in power theft cases
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Maharashtra Energy Minister Chandrashekhar Bavankule today said 132 police stations in Maharashtra have been authorised to register cases related to electricity thefts. The move will help in curbing the losses due to power thefts, he said. The minister was speaking to reporters outside the state Legislative Assembly here.
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"Earlier, there were only six dedicated police stations in the entire state to register cases related to power theft. We have scrapped them and decided to allow 132 police stations to register such cases," he said. "The decision will help in curbing the losses due to power theft, which is 10 per cent of the total power consumption," Bavankule said.
The move will also help in increasing the conviction rate (in power theft cases), which is currently very low, he added. The Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL) had started six police stations - in Kalyan, Nashik, Pune, Jalna, Latur and Nagpur - in 2006 to investigate the cases of electricity theft. The minister also told the reporters that although around 20 lakh illegal power connections were snapped across the state, they somehow manage to draw electricity.
"To control that, we need dynamic infrastructure of the police department," Bavankule said. He also said that there is requirement of 14,000 MW to 22,000 MW power in Maharashtra every year. "We would like to introduce an amnesty scheme to recover the outstanding bills. Going by the existing way of things, it is highly impossible to recover the unpaid bills," he said.
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