Following the accident involving their staff, allegedly due to the hasty retreat in order to save themselves from the onslaught of power thieves, BSES said six such attacks had taken place since February.
They said this was the first time that an employee checking power thefts had died since the 2002 privatisation.
‘Like organised gangs’
“These are not isolated incidents. Efforts by discom teams to check irregularities are often thwarted by law-defying people, who function like organised gangs. Whenever our teams reach these sensitive areas, criminal elements gherao them and obstruct them from imparting their duties. Power theft has taken the shape of organised crime and active police support is needed to curb this menace,” said a BSES statement. Despite efforts to reduce power theft, it added, that Jaffarpur continues to sustained losses of around 60%. In the past five years, around 14,000 cases of power theft having a connected load of around 33,000 kW have been unearthed in the area.
