The Hindu Business Line : WBSEB drive against power theft

KOLKATA: Vigilance squads of the West Bengal State Electricity Board raided 10,711 industrial and commercial premises since the enactment of the new legislation to check power theft. A WBSEB release said that armed with the Indian Electricity (West Bengal Amendment) Act 2001, the Board had taken stringent action to check power theft.

WBSEB, which makes a loss of around Rs 2 crore daily, loses nearly Rs 600 crore annually on account of power theft. The release said that since July 15, when the Act was brought into force, the raids conducted by WBSEB had resulted in the arrest of 261 persons and 941 FIRs had been lodged.

The Board, which was given a score of 35.88 by ICRA, which along with CRISIL had recently conducted a rating of the various State power utilities, is now trying to put in place a turnaround plan. It has already signed a memorandum of association with the Union Power Ministry, committing itself to certain milestone-based reforms.

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