They once guarded the borders and now ex-servicemen will check power pilferage in the state.

Jharkhand Bijli Vitaran Nigam Limited (JBVNL), the state-owned power distribution company, is drawing up plans to rope in former armymen to add teeth to its anti-theft operations.

However, the number of ex-servicemen to be hired and the terms of engagement have not yet been decided. Once these details are finalised, power board officials will approach Sainik Kalyan Board, Ranchi.

"We have been facing severe staff crunch with more than 50 per cent of our sanctioned posts remaining vacant. Hence, we decided to hire ex-servicemen to help curb power theft," said JBVNL managing director Rahul Purwar.

Rough estimates from the power board reveal that at least 39 per cent of power generated within the state and purchased from a host of outside sources to keep the state glowing remain unaccounted due to high incidence of aggregate technical and commercial (AT&C) losses of which theft is a major component. The others are technical losses, misuse of domestic connections for commercial and industrial purposes, non-realisation of energy bills etc.

"We hope to bring down transmission and distribution losses from 39 per cent to 28 per cent by March next year and to 18 per cent in the next four years. Power theft constitutes a major component of the total AT&C losses in the state. Reduction of power theft will enhance power availability, save a lot of money and improve our financial health," Purwar told The Telegraph.

Apart from reducing transmission and distribution losses, the power board will also put stress on increasing revenue collections and providing improved services to consumers. "Each month, we purchase power worth Rs 340 crore of which actual collections are around Rs 220 crore, resulting in a whooping revenue loss of Rs 120 crore," Purwar added.

The managing director said other long-term measures were also being put in place to reduce theft. These include replacing existing power distribution lines by aerial bunched cables to root out incidence of hooking and replacing all existing electronic meters with tamper-proof smart ones.

"We intend to replace all existing electronic meters with smart android-based digital meters in phases. Meter readers, equipped with a remote, will record the reading after entering the consumer number. This way the meter will be fully tamper-proof," Purwar added.

Chief minister Raghubar Das had also directed state energy secretary S.K.G. Rahate to take immediate steps to cut down losses. He even went a step ahead to say that henceforth promotions of all power officials would be linked to increasing revenue collections and reducing losses.

Chief secretary Rajiv Gauba had also asked all general managers of JBVNL to curb pilferage and take effective steps to raise revenue.