Power Development is one department steeped in corruption and inefficiency. Government after Government allowed it to keep tryst with corruption and malpractices until the day came when corruption stands institutionalised in the department. A good chunk of state’s annual income is eaten away by the power department. But despite all mud-slinging at the department, something that has become a routine with the civil society and the media, departmental authorities never found it necessary to take the civil society on board in connection with difficulties in the distribution of power. As against it, departmental authorities and the government seem to have sealed their mouths on the issue of corruption rampant in the department.
Last week, we were told that a probe into the power crisis in the State, especially in Jammu during the hot summer, had yielded startling information about power theft and the patterns of theft in elite, middle class and lower middle class areas. We were told that in Jammu, revenue losses resulting from power theft are to the tune of 75-80 per cent in posh areas like the Residency Road and Gandhi Nagar, the inference was that residents in elitist segments of the city eat up maximum electric revenue. This is surprising and the reverse of what we find ordinarily in other cities and towns of the country.
But our correspondent has laid his hand on more startling revelations in this connection. In-depth study of power theft in the State confirms that there is general loot of the State exchequer carried out by the functionaries of PDD, obviously not without the blessings of their seniors. It is learnt that there are 20,15,088 households across the State—10,21,244 in Jammu region and 9,93,844 in Kashmir valley as per the census of 2011 and 17,53,201 (87 per cent) of these households have the facility of electricity. Out of 17,53,201 households having facility of electricity, 11,30,541 are registered consumers of the Power Development Department while as 6,24,461 are unregistered consumers which means they are using electricity without paying even single penny to the Department. A source said, “It is not known as to how much electricity these 6, 24,461 unregistered households have been consuming and subsequently causing huge loss to the State exchequer”. Out of 6, 24,461 unregistered consumers across the State, 3, 39,735 are in Jammu region and 2, 34,726 in the Kashmir valley and their percentage in Jammu region is 43.92 while as 29.86 in Kashmir valley, sources informed.
The question is not of more theft in one region and less in the other. The question is of the culture of power theft that is eating into the vitals of PDD and one third of total consumers in the State. This is a serious question and now with media putting entire picture of power theft before the civil society, the time has come when the Government should take a decisive step for ameliorating critical power situation in summer as well as in winter. One-third of total consumers of electricity in the state are devoid of civic sense and qualms of conscience. It speaks of leadership crisis. Elected representatives of the people are the right persons on whose shoulders the weight of educating civil society falls. NGOs also undertake counselling of various strata of society but we have dearth of honest and dedicated NGOs in the State. The Government must think of stick and carrot policy as the instrument of educating people and implementing the rule of law. Soft pedalling by the Government does more harm and vitiates entire atmosphere of good governance. Past experience shows that enforcement of accountability yields the desired result if enforcement is within the ambit of law and not violating human rights.
But harshest word will be pronounced against the insiders of PDD, not only the ground staff but all echelons of the hierarchy. The first and foremost person to be called to answer the question is the chief boss of the department and not the minister. We believe that an honest and efficient boss is fully empowered to stem the rot if he wants to. But the culture is of passing the buck and making subordinates responsible for something that has gone wrong. How on earth can one-third of entire population of the State steal power without paying a single penny as fees? For what purpose does the department have a large manpower on its pay roll if it cannot ensure no-theft of power by unregistered consumers? Who has allowed them electric connection and who is responsible for reporting misuse of the same? There is a vast and deep nexus among the functionaries of the PDD and the one-third population of the State that enables the latter to make pilferage. It is a matter about which the Vigilance Organization should also be concerned. It must be in the know of functionaries of the department who among them live a life beyond their legitimate means. All that can be said is that the Government should follow the example of other states and convert the department into an Electricity Board, and allow private sector to handle the entire power supplying system as well as revenue recovering mechanism.
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