Malda, Oct. 10: The West Bengal State Electricity Board has slapped fines on 35 Puja committees on charges of overdrawing electricity.

The WBSEB officials conducted raids at several Puja pandals yesterday and realised a fine of Rs 21,000 from 14 committees. According to divisional engineer Arup Ghosh, the employees raided 35 Puja pandals in three groups. Such raids will continue till Dashami on Wednesday and the WBSEB officials will be accompanied by a special police team during their surprise visits to the pandals.

According to a source, the raids are being conducted in each district, following a circular from the state electricity board.

The members of the raiding teams are carrying tong tester, an instrument to measure the load of electricity. ?We shall impose spot fines on errant committees. If the members refuse to pay readily, we will disconnect their power supply immediately. We will also lodge a first information report (FIR) with the local police station,? said Tanmay Basu, the Malda circle manager of the WBSEB. ?We are sending day-to-day report to the control room of Vidyut Bhawan at Salt Lake in Calcutta.?

This year, the Englishbazar and Old Malda municipalities had received 157 applications from Puja committees, asking for special permissions for electricity connections during the Pujas. According to WBSEB revenue officials, 1,190 KW of power is required to provide to all the committees in the area and such a huge demand has put the WBSEB officials under tremendous pressure.

The big-budget Puja committees require 15 to 25 KW of power each. Three clubs ? Moitri Sangha, Malanchapalli Sarbojanin Durgotsav Committee and Shibaji Sangha ? have a demand of 50 KW of power each, an official said.

Against the requirement of 1,190 KW of power, the Puja committees in the two municipality areas have paid Rs 5.74 lakh to the WBSEB in advance, an official said.