Cinema hall owner caught stealing power

Tribune News Service

Panipat, July 22

A special team of the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) today raided a cinema hall, a shopping complex and the residence of the owner of the buildings here.

Superintending Engineer VS Mann got information that the owner of Nawal cinema and Pearl Plaza shopping complex was stealing power in connivance employees of the UHBVN for the past many years.

Mann constituted a special team comprises SDOs Ashwani Kaushik and Ashok Sharma.

Mann said that the team found that the owner was involved in power theft and 72 KW direct load was found in all three buildings. It was found that cuts were made in wires by bypassing the electricity meters, he said.

He said the team found theft of 20 KW at the cinema hall, 14 KW at the residence and 38 KW by 14 offices running in Pearl Plaza. “We are assessing the actual penalty amount, but it could be around Rs 35 lakh,” he said.

A case of power theft would be registered against Aakash Garg, owner of the buildings. The power connections of all three buildings had been disconnected and all cables and meters had been removed, he said.