SNDL team identified a major power theft at the mobile tower site of Reliance Jio located at Plot No 104, Yogendra Nagar, Borgaon Road, Nagpur (near Bank of Baroda) on 2nd August 2019. The details of the same are as follows:
The connection (Consumer No. 410022888211) which is in the name of Reliance JioInfocomm Limited and is located at above site had been installed in the month of Jan 2019.
However, since installation, the consumer had not been paying electricity bills. When the dues overgrew beyond a limit, the collection team of SNDL served them a dues notice for 15 days and thereafterdisconnected the consumer temporarily (from meter) on 28th of June 2019. Thereafter the consumer had been claiming that they had been operating on the generator located in the premises. The consumer also made a partial payment of dues in between but avoided the existing bill once again, so reconnection was not done. In between, the operations team observed suspicious pilferage of electricity on the circuit.
An observation period was allowed and a team was deployed at that location for keeping a watch on the activities. It was reported that the tower was operating even while the generator was non-operational, which confirmed power theft. Therefore, an 6-member vigilance team comprising 1 technician, 2 engineers, 2 team leaders, and 1 lady executive conducted the vigilance raid.
Immediately near the meter which had been disconnected, they identified that the supply had been bypassed by use of an MCB. The MCB was being used to switch between direct supply and generator. The generator was used only as an eyewash which was switched on only when someone came for checking otherwise most of the time the direct supply was being used. The caretaker at the spot, one Sandeep Balbudhe confessed that he was aware of this system.
The total connected load at the site was found to be nearly 6 KW which included an ‘Outdoor BTS’ system and had been operating this way since the day the meter was disconnected i.e. 28th June. Therefore, an assessment for 35 days was handed over to him on behalf of his company. The assessment amount was calculated to be Rs. 54,430/- alongwith compounding charges of Rs. 60 Thousand. The activity started at around 3 PM and was going on till late in the evening.
SNDL has strongly condemned such acts of power theft by well-known organizations who are themselves providing services to people.
