PSPCL goods stored illegally in pvt godowns seized

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, May 17

The enforcement wing of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) on Wednesday raided two private godowns located on the premises of a shrine near Ghee Mandi Gate area and recovered a huge quantity of missing power cables and other equipment worth lakhs of rupees from the spot.

The godowns were allegedly hired by a Junior Engineer who had stored the material in an illegal manner without informing the department.

“The material was issued to him for installation during his duty hours, but he failed to deposit the left-out material to the department,” said a senior official of Powercom wishing not to be named.

The Junior Engineer was under the radar of the department for the past few months after it detected huge power thefts under Ghee Mandi subdivision where he has been posted for the past 15 years.

Sources said the PSPCL authorities had fined two hotels in the past two months after they were found indulging in power thefts allegedly in connivance with the aforesaid Junior Engineer. They hotels which were located in the walled city could not be allowed power meters as per the norms.

The official said a preliminary report would be handed over to the Chairman-cum-Managing Director of PSPCL for further necessary action against him.

Acting on a tip-off, sleuths of the enforcement wing landed at the godowns around 8am. They recovered over 1,000 kg of aluminum power cables of different sizes, electric conductors of different sizes weighing around 400 kg, new cable wires of different sizes and LTCT power meters from the spot. The cost of the entire material was around Rs 6-7 lakh.

As per the norms, Powercom employees have to inform senior officials in case he hires a private space for storage of wires and equipment. However, the accused JE had not informed the department about the stores. The material was found from the basement and a room located near the langar hall of the shrine.

The raiding team included two Executive Engineers, three subdivisional officers and four junior engineers.

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