Mere crackdown on electricity theft not a solution
STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI: The Coordination Committee of Electricity Employees Engineers & Pensioners (CCEEEP) has appealed to the new Power Minister Bimal Bora to go into the depth of problems afflicting the power sector in the State before bringing about reforms.
Joint convenor of CCEEEP Dipak Kumar Saha said even though theft of electricity is one of the major challenges faced by the Assam Power Distribution Company Ltd (APDCL), it is not the sole reason for myriad problem plaguing the power sector in the State.
Saha said the CCEEEP has been demanding the APDCL to take stringent actions against those involved in electricity theft. "The APDCL has failed to initiate necessary and timely actions to prevent power theft. It is good to see the new Power minister has taken pro-active measures to stop electricity theft. But mere prevention of electricity theft will not bring about much needed reforms in the power sector," he said.
According to Saha the APDCL, Assam Power Generation Corporation Limited and Assam Electricity Grid Corporation Limited are facing losses due to faulty policies of the previous government in Dispur. He said lack of proper audit system in the three power companies (earlier known as ASEB), unpaid bills to the tune of several crores by different organizations and shortage of trained manpower are some of the reasons afflicting the power companies.
"We have been demanding in improvement of electricity service to the people. Timely action plan is the need of the hour to make Assam self-sufficient in electricity production. Manpower shortage has also come in the way of revenue collection by the APDCL. We hope that the new Power minister will take a holistic approach and taken all stakeholders of the power sector into confidence before initiating reforms," Saha said.