VADODARA: As the sarpanch of his village in Chhota Udepur, Prakash Rathwa takes all major decisions for the village. But it turns out that Rathwa is not setting a good example for other villagers as he is accused of serial power theft.
In a surprise check conducted by Madhya Gujarat Vij Company Ltd officials, they found that Rathwa had taken connection directly from an electric pole. He did not have any legal connections for his home at Ratanpur (Kaprali) village in Naswadi taluka. Officials from the local sub-division found that Rathwa was using the connection from pole outside his house for operating water pump for a borewell, six fans, four bulbs, a television, and a lamp. After an assessment, Rathwa was slapped with a notice to pay an electricity bill of Rs 40,472 as he had consumed 3,199 units. Officials said that an offence under section 135 of The Electricity Act was registered against Rathwa at GUVNL police station as he was found stealing power for the third time in the past two years.
In a similar surprise check in December 2018, Rathwa was slapped with a notice to pay an electricity bill of Rs 14,819. On March 11 last year he was asked to pay an amount of Rs 1,161.