Owning up power theft can spare FIR

LUCKNOW: Voluntary disclosure of power theft will spare offenders from an FIR being lodged against them. Ahead of the January state-wide drive to check power theft, UPPCL has ordered officials to lend a `patient' ear to consumers and redress their grievances.
“Driven by the objective, we urge consumers to speak up,” said chief engineer, Lucknow Electricity Supply Administration (LESA), S K Verma.
There are enough cases where a landlord may not be aware that his tenant has rigged meter and committed power theft.In other cases, a consumer might have made rounds of LESA offices to get his meter rectified but no positive response from officers might have forced him to use ‘katiya’.
Consumers now have a help at hand. They can contact concerned officers at camps being held all over the city and apprise officers of their cases.
Self-disclosure will not only save them from FIR but also charge half the amount of penalty. “If their compounding penalty is worked out to be 40,000, they might be charged only 20,000,” said the official.
‘Voluntary disclosure’ of power theft is a lesser known provision under the Electricity rule book, which LESA would advertise from Thursday. Government has ordered FIR against consumers found guilty in power-theft during the upcoming drive.
On Wednesday, 165 new meters were installed and six FIRs lodged in Kakori and four in BKT against power theft.