Power theft cases: Engineer suspended

JAISALMER: The power department has suspended a vigilance executive engineer for dereliction of duty following rising number of power theft cases.
Engineer Vijay Kumar was expected to visit villages to check power thefts and was suspended on Tuesday when it was found that he was not making field visits. Besides, the state govt had suspended five officials, including two assistant engineers suspecting connivance with electricity thieves.
The state govt has directed to intensify the campaign to catch miscreants involved in power thefts in Jaisalmer.Chief engineer of Jodhpur Discom S K Shah said, looking at the rise in the incidents of electricity thefts in last six months, Discom's vigilance team have increased its efforts to curb them. "The team has registered 250 cases of power thefts along with 30 transformers, which clearly shows that power theft is taking place at a large level,'' he said.
Shah said the govt has directed for measures to reduce transmission loss. "As no action was being taken by the engineer against the accused, he was suspended along with others,'' he said.
He said a committee was formed over the increasing power thefts and based on the committee report, five electricity personnel were suspended. He said, on Tuesday, at Kiralia village under Lathi police station area, kumar did not go along with the vigilance team which included 32 others. The team was attacked by the villagers, he added.
SP Gaurav Yadav said a team of large number of police personnel has been sent to raid and arrest the culprits. Large number of people has been caught and will be arrested after identification.