AGARTALA, August 17 (TIWN): The Tripura State Electricity Corporation Ltd. (TSECL) has failed to provide round the clock electricity in the metered areas here, power theft in unauthorised colonies is going unchecked.

According to the official report of the Power Department, during the financial year 2012-2013, 2013-2014 and 2014-15 altogether 37, 012 electricity theft incidents has been caught. But only 79 cases have been registered in the police station.

Power theft is one of the main reasons for damage to infrastructure, a fact which can be acknowledged by the TSECL, but no action is being taken to prevent it.

People in several unauthorised colonies, which have sprung in the city in recent years, could be found stealing power using hooks lines.

Areas like ADC and Jumpui Jala the power theft case is rampant.

It’s often an “invisible” crime. Someone illegally hooks into a power supply, hooks up a line that has been disconnected, or tampers with a meter to avoid recording electricity usage. At some places the field staff of the department even helps people steal electricity in return of money.

Even in metered areas, consumers bypass metres to run their electronic gadgets. There should be strong action against such acts as a genuine consumer suffers because of all this.

Whoever dishonestly hooks main power lines, tampers with metre, installs or uses a tampered metre, current reversing transformer, loop connection or any other device which interferes with accurate or proper registration, calibration or metering of power could be controlled.

Legitimate electricity consumers do not engage in these behaviours, so the impact of electricity theft including the danger is often unrecognized.

Power theft carries deadly risks. Many thieves pay for the power they steal with their lives. Electricity theft is not just dangerous for those who steal.

Electricity thieves may also unknowingly feed energy back into the power line. This is dangerous for lineman who may assume that the power line they are working on is de-energized.