JSEB: Theft singes board

Jamshedpur, Jan. 23: Nexus between JSEB insiders and industrialists has cost the power board crores.

Sample this: Two electricians climb the rooftop of a three-storeyed building at Ghatsila around 8 pm every evening. They would wait patiently below the 33,000 KVA power transmission lines. Thereafter, the power supply would trip. As if on cue, they would use a hydraulic device to fix a hook on the transmission lines. The entire operation would take less than two minutes, after which power supply would get restored.

The hook would be removed early next morning, around 5 am, once again at a pre-determined time. Electricity worth several crores was siphoned in this manner during the past few months, claimed JSEB sources.

An inspecting team of engineers, it was claimed, had recovered cables, the hydraulic device and insulators used for the “hooking” by three mini-steel-units at Ghatsila and Chakulia. One of the three units, however, managed to destroy the evidence by dumping the equipment into the furnace. The three owners fled and managed to evade arrest.

Fines of Rs 13 crore have been slapped on the three units — Johar Steel, Himadri Steel and AVN Instruments Ltd — following the raid at Dhalbhumgarh and Chakulia on Sunday, confirmed JSEB sources. The raiding team, led by Vinay Kumar, superintending engineer (transmission and supply), had swooped down on the units, all of them being relatively new industrial units that came up during the past eight to 10 months, following a tip-off.

While power tapping for running induction furnaces is not unknown, it is generally assumed that it is impossible to tap power from a 33,000 KVA transmission line. While Kumar refused to talk on the subject, the chief engineer-cum-general manager, Jamshedpur, P.R. Ranjan, said: “How can you say it is impossible to tap power from a 33,000 KVA line, when man has put his foot on moon?”

Industrialists here, as well as a section of the electricity board, claimed that it is impossible to tap power from such transmission lines without the connivance of insiders. Power supply, they said, can be easily tripped at the sub-station, giving an opportunity to miscreants. Examining the log at the substation and finding out if there is a pattern in the timing of power-tripping, they felt, could easily reveal the nexus.

“Not to speak of 33,000 KVA, even 11,000 KVA power line would trigger a major mishap if hooking is attempted,” said an industrialist, adding that some of the key officials in the JSEB must be hand-in-gloves with the errant industrial units. Records at the Dhalbhumgarh substation were being examined, said JSEB sources.

Two FIRs have been lodged at the Dhalbhumgarh police station in connection with the power theft. A third FIR was lodged at the Chakulia police station. The three units were producing iron ingots by melting scrap iron.

Despite the involvement of insiders being obvious, JSEB plans to take no action against the criminals. The board chairman, V.N. Pandey, said his priority was revenue collection and unearthing power thefts. Promising more raids in the near future, the JSEB chairman said he was hopeful of “positive results”.

While JSEB appears loath to take action against its people, the police have not taken the electricians questioned into custody. No attempt has been made to get their statements recorded before the court, strengthening the impression that the raid was the result of a “lover’s quarrel”.