Huge racket of annual power theft of Rs 500 crores, annually, exposed in Uttarakhand by Rashtravadi regional Party of Uttarakhand

A huge racket of annual power theft of Rs 500 crores exposed in Uttarakhand by Rashtravadi regional Party of Uttarakhand.

The Nationalist Regional Party has demanded from Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami to get the massive power theft in the steel factories established under Roorkee and Kashipur circles by the CBI and ED.

While addressing a press conference at Dehradun Press Club, he raised serious questions on the officials regarding the power theft taking place in the steel factory of Uttarakhand.

Party chief Shivprasad Semwal said that if no action is taken on this, then the party workers will be forced to take to the streets and launch a fierce agitation in public interest. The party has also complained about this to the Prime Minister’s Office, CBI and Enforcement Directorate.

Shiv Prasad Semwal, National President of Rashtrawadi Regional Party said that the officers of Uttarakhand Power Corporation are allowing electricity theft of 5 crore units (worth around Rs 40 crores) every month in the steel factories established in Roorkee and Kashipur circles of Uttarakhand which is a direct loss of revenue of about rupees 500 crores, annually. Then it is being compensated by increasing the tariff of electricity bills of other factories working honestly and the common consumer. This is sheer injustice.

Shiv Prasad Semwal said that due to power theft, factories working honestly in the state are continuously being shut down, but in connivance with the Energy Corporation, factories stealing power are closing down their operations in neighboring states like Uttar Pradesh and increasing the number of steel furnaces in Uttarakhand.

Many factories stealing electricity have installed 4 to 8, 10 furnaces. But the electricity bill shows only one furnace. The rest of the furnaces are running on electricity generated through massive theft.

The line loss in Roorkee, Landhora and Kashipur circles where electricity theft takes place is 65% to 70%. But the loss in the area with line loss is being compensated by increasing the tariff in other areas as well.

The situation has reached such a point that the factories stealing electricity are reducing work in their units in Uttar Pradesh and producing in Uttarakhand itself. To create a monopoly, they are buying raw material at high prices and selling the finished goods at relatively cheaper rates.

This is compensated by power theft but in those areas where there is no power theft and line loss is almost zero, those factories are becoming out of competition due to getting costly raw material and as a result are on the verge of closure.

State President of Nationalist Regional Party, Sulochana Ishtwal said that a demand is made to the Energy Minister and the Chief Minister that a high level committee should be formed to investigate the steel factories of Roorkee Landhora Circle and Kashipur Circle, then you will find electricity theft on a large scale in about 10-12 factories.

Ishtwal said that a high level committee of officers should investigate as to how many iron
furnaces’ electricity bills are paid here and how many furnaces are installed in the premises.

Along with this, line loss in Kashipur is also up to 70%. Here also, it should be investigated properly by going inside the big factories to see how many electricity bills are paid for the furnaces and how many furnaces are installed in the premises. Along with this, the line loss in Kashipur is also up to 70%.

District President of Nationalist Region Party Devendra Singh Gusain said that the government makes a lot of claims about making Uttarakhand an industrial state and making new investments but the policies of the government also need a lot of improvement.

For example, power theft on such a large scale cannot happen due to the connivance of circle officials alone; officials at the level of Managing Director and higher level of Uttarakhand Power Corporation as well as people giving political patronage are also directly involved in it.

He alleged that middlemen having high connections instigate even those factories which do not steal electricity to steal electricity. This is very unfortunate.

In all the divisions of Roorkee Kashipur circle where line loss is up to 65%, it is worth noticing that in all those divisions there are more steel industries, their connected load is also only 25% of their total consumption, whereas the capacity of their parental transformer is many times more.

In a steel factory, there is a rule of giving 400 kVA load per tonne, i.e. a 10 tonne furnace needs a load of 4000 kVA, but if four furnaces of 10 tonne each are installed in the premises, then that steel furnace should not be given a load of less than 16000 kva.

The rule for him should be that if he has four furnaces installed, he should either run all four or remove three completely. Only then will electricity theft be stopped to a great extent.

Shiv Prasad Semwal said that in the last 7 years, in Uttar Pradesh, 5 tariffs have been introduced but no tariff has been increased, whereas in Uttarakhand, 7 tariffs have been introduced in the last 7 years and the electricity tariff has been increased by up to ₹ 3 per unit in these 7 years.