Sir,
Refer news item ‘Illegal power connections to be regularized under CEA’ DE Nov 26, 2019.
The decision of the Government to invoke Central Electricity Act in J&K UT is more than welcome.
The Union Territory at present is facing acute shortage of electricity on account of illegal power connections that can be seen even in metered areas. Those indulging in power theft need to be heavily penalised to deter them from this illegal activity.
The people who bear the brunt most of the times are those who pay as per meter readings. They are subjected to fees hike at the expense of power thieves to fill the state coffers. The Government had sometime back issued notices to power thieves but one wonders whether action was taken against them or whether it was just a publicity stunt on the part of the Government.
It may be not out of place to mention here that the previous Governments had never been sincere in implementing the power reforms that were tom-tomed umpteen times for public consumption. Had power reforms been implemented, the JKUT would not have been passing through power crisis.
Rajesh Sharma
Gangyal
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