39 booked for power theft in tehsil

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:

Acting upon the complaint made by Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) officials, the Cantonment and Chikalthana police have registered criminal cases against 39 consumers from Harsul, Sawangi, Maliwada and Waluj Mahanagar, under various sections of MSEDCL.

It may be noted that the MSEDCL has launched a drive against power theft from June to August, on the order of the chief engineer Dr. Murhari Kele and under the guidance of superintending engineer Pravin Daroli and executive engineer Vishnu Dhakne.

The MSEDCL team during surprise visits have found 233 persons involved in power theft by tampering the electric meters or putting hooks on electricity cables in the tehsil. They were using the power for residential and commercial purposes. They were fined Rs 27.60 lakh.

The deputy executive engineer (Aurangabad Rural-I, Sub-Division) Pravin Pawar informed that out of 233, 74 of them have been booked for non-payment of penalty.

MSEDCL section officers Feroz Shaikh, Dhananjay Banedar, Govind Dusange, Hakim and Narendra Shinde took part in the drive.