4 caused discom loss of Rs 3.5 lakh, suspended

Gurgaon: Four DHBVN officials, including junior engineer (JE) of South City sub-division, have been suspended with immediate effect for dereliction of their duties that led to a loss of Rs 3.67 lakh for the department.
In an internal inquiry conducted by DHBVN, it was found that a junior engineer, along with the ground staff, had given residential connections and stalled the electricity meter in South City-2. However, these meters were not registered in the official records due to which the free of cost electricity was being availed by the beneficiaries.
Apart from suspending the officials and launching a detailed investigation into the matter, the department will also recover the amount from the accused. According to the department, these officials had installed electric meters but had not registered them on the department’s record, leading to a loss of over 52 units of electricity.
“We have already conducted our investigation. It was found that these officials had provided electricity connection and installed meters in South City 2 sub-division but there was no mention in the records. Based on our departmental inquiry and facts presented by the investigation officer we have suspended the accused officials. A charge sheet is also being prepared against them and the losses that the department has suffered will also be recovered from them,” said DHBVN chief engineer KC Agarwal.
According to the sources in the department, in November 2018, the department received a request for the electricity connection. While the officials provided the connection, records were not updated with the department. The matter came to light when a whistle-blower leaked the information to the officials.