Power for jr Thackeray’s event stolen from overhead wires

Nagpur: A power theft was reported during Shiv Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray’s visit to the city on Saturday to attend a Pola event. After a video of a decorator stealing power from the overhead wires through a hook went viral, the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) officers immediately swung into action and recovered a fine of Rs9,760 from him.
Earlier, the power entity had taken the same action when power theft was detected during the programme of Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut (now in Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody) during his visit to the city on April 21. At that time, MSEDCL’s action was a topic of discussion as the then energy minister in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, Nitin Raut, hailed from the city.
The minister as well as the government came under criticism from opposition parties and common man at that time, as it was peak summer and load-shedding was underway in the rural areas due to severe power shortage. The state was also facing a crisis of coal shortage at that time.
MSEDCL officers said the decorator in Thackeray’s case used stolen electricity to light the stage, pandal and operate the sound system.
The MSEDCL officer said during such political events power theft is a routine affair by using hooks. “We lack a team which can actually roam around and watch out for such incidents. Now that this case has come to light, the concerned person was fined. Otherwise, it’s a free for all affair, particularly in the rural areas,” they said.
They said the government should set up a proper system only to keep tabs on such thefts and recovery of the fine.