Gang of thieves stealing oil from transformers active in Civil Lines

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Amritsar, September 25

There have been reports of oil theft from power transformers in the Civil Lines areas causing loss to Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) and inconvenience to the public as supply of electricity has been getting disrupted during the past few days.

Officials of the PSPCL said a gang with technical knowledge to extract oil from transformers appeared to be active in the area. Now, they had sought help from the police to keep a tab on thieves and curb the practice.

According to the PSPCL officials, a transformer outside the District Administration Complex got damaged as its oil was stolen twice within a week. Similarly, oil was stolen by unidentified thieves from transformers near Novelty Hyundai on Court Road, at Queens Road Chowk (Ashoka Chowk), outside Alexendra School on Queens Road, at Company Bagh, opposite Urban Haat, near SSSS Chowk along the fountains of Company Bagh and at Green Avenue near Verka Booth.

The transformer at Green Avenue also got damaged due to theft of oil. All these transformers were located at prominent places where CCTV cameras had been installed. The police are also deployed at nearby intersections.

Tajinderpal Singh, Executive Engineer, PSPCL said, “The oil theft cases have been on the rise in the Civil Lines area. It has caused loss to the department. Power supply also gets disrupted for five to eight hours. We have asked the city police to keep a check on transformers during night and also check footage of the CCTV cameras installed at nearby locations so that suspects who steal oil can be identified.” He said, “The PSPCL has filed a complaint at the anti-power theft police station and an FIR has been registered in this regard.”

According to information, each transformer has 250 litre of oil, which costs Rs 40,000 to the PSPCL. Officials claimed that sometimes transformer got damaged permanently when thieves stole oil from it.