LUCKNOW: As UP government faces a raging protest of power employee over privatization of power distribution companies, records show that line losses have increased in many districts, ostensibly because of instances of power theft.
In fact, out of the 150 worst performing distribution areas in terms of revenue recovery across India, 48 are from UP where the line loss is more than 40%. The grim situation came to light during a recent review meeting between Union Power ministry and the UP energy department.
According to records, line losses in Orai division in Bundelkhand region registered the highest increase from around 49% in February to around 57% in March -- a jump of 8%. This, according to
UPPCL, was mainly because of the absence of aerial bunch conductors (ABCs) which are being installed across the state to stop instances of power theft.
Orai was followed by Azamgarh division, which is under the parliamentary constituency of SP patriarch
Mulayam Singh Yadav, where line losses increased by around 6% from 47% in February to 53% in March. Chitrakoot had the dubious distinction of topping the list with 63.7% line losses, a jump of about 4 percentage points. Mathura, the home district of power minister
Shirkant Sharma, was second with 57.8% line loss, a rise of 2 percentage points.
Around 43% consumers of this district are still unmetered. The Jaunpur sub-division within Varanasi zone, which also comprises parliamentary constituency of PM
Narendra Modi, also registered around 2% increase in line losses. UPPCL records show that the division still has 53% unmetered consumers. Principal secretary Alok Kumar said that warning has been issued to engineers concerned in view of the increase in line losses. “The department is taking requisite measures to check instances of power theft and increase revenue for better services,”he added.
The increase in line losses in various localities of 14 districts come even as the state government promises to provide round the clock power supply under Centre's ambitious 24x7 `Power For All' scheme. The state government is also executing the
Saubhagya Scheme envisaging free electricity connections to the rural poor. As a matter of fact, the state government had initiated the process of privatisation of distribution companies in its bid to bring down the line losses. UP CM
Adityanath Yogi had also announced that his government would provide 24-hour power supply to only those districts where line losses are less than 10%. Ironically, at present, except for Noida, line losses in various districts remain around 30%.
