Electricity theft to the tune of 319 crores within a year was reported from Maharashtra’s Malegaon. Malegoan Power Supply Limited is faced with the dilemma of recovering the losses. The company cited a lack of support from the police as the main reason behind its inability to catch the electricity thieves.

Those citizens who regularly pay their bills have expressed that the issue of electricity theft hampering Malegaon’s progress would be dealt with strictly by the authorities. 87000 and 38000 of the 1.25 lakh customers reside in the central and outer sectors of Malegaon, respectively. Only 7,100 cases of electricity theft have been investigated in the last three years, and even though the company is taking action against the thieves, 55 per cent of those return to stealing electricity.

Of the 7,100 cases, FIR has been registered only against 285 persons, and chargesheets have been filed against only 21 of the 285 persons. Only one person has been issued the summons in the last three years. However, no demands have been made on the person.

Malegoan Power Supply Limited is now faced with a dire situation. The company employees who went to act against the culprits were threatened, assaulted, and abused. This has created fear among the employees. It must be highlighted here that the company took action against 20 persons and confiscated 20 tampered meters. However, they returned the meters to the illegal electricity users in the presence of the police.

Malegaon is a Muslim-dominated city where issues such as attacks on hospital staff, grooming for Islamic conversion, and other crimes have been regularly reported.

(Featured Image Source: Maharashtra Times)