Power Crisis: Theft A Prime Reason

The year 2022 has brought the whole country under power cuts and normal life has got affected in many metro cities of India. Majorly the people in states like Maharashtra, Karnataka, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh are suffering and the coal shortage is the reason behind this newly developed power shortage across India. But for Jammu, power cuts are a routine every summer. Sadly, this year is the worst for Jammu and the reason behind it is the coal shortage in India. Usually power demand in Jammu in the month of May increases, however this year this increased demand is not getting fulfilled, resulting in major power crisis.

This worst scenario has taken political debate surrounding power cuts to a new level. Interestingly, areas which are BJP’s strongholds in Jammu are seeing people out on the streets to demand regular power supply. On the other hand, Kashmir based political leaders alleged that curtailment of electricity during the month of Ramzan was done deliberately to bother people and play with their sentiments. Even the president of the Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) issued a warning to the J&K administration that the consumers will stop paying bills if the crisis is not resolved immediately.

Amid all this, the question remained as to why this situation couldn’t be brought under control? Infact with every passing year electricity cuts in the summer season are becoming worse. Against all this, the J&K PDD department never took serious efforts to prevent this situation from becoming a crisis. Two reasons were openly visible for this deteriorating problem; firstly, there are transmission and distribution (T&D) losses and secondly, losses due to the ‘power theft’. The first reason is a technical problem but second is purely man made and if rightly said in words it’s ‘invention of PDD officers’. This ‘invented problem’ is now worth crores of rupees. So where is this money generated out of theft, bribery, and other illegal activities going?

Surprisingly, PDD’s Special Task Force (STF) created to check unauthorized use of electricity never detected this ‘power theft’ and flow of money associated with it. This situation reflects that these illegal electricity connections are running only due to the connivance of many officers in the department. Instead of making efforts to eliminate power theft, some officers have created a parallel income method by allowing power theft in Jammu. This is happening in both rural and urban areas of Jammu and is so deep rooted that for decades no one was ever found involved and dealt with under the law.

Only extensive tours of the various power stations of Jammu won’t bring us out of this annual power crisis. Visits to identify the ‘power theft’ which is a prime reason should be done and concerning officers should be held responsible. Because when we go to any residential or commercial area, we find illegal power connections which cannot operate without facilitation by PDD officers. All illegal connections are being tolerated due to bribery. And this modus operandi adopted by PDD officers and by some unscrupulous elements in the society is causing the genuine and honest consumers to suffer.