SHILLONG, April 6: The cash-strapped Meghalaya Energy Corporation Limited (MeECL) has sought an independent probe into allegations of power theft and corruption in the Byrnihat Industrial area in Ri Bhoi.
In a letter addressed to the Secretary of Power department, MeECL Chairman-cum-Managing Director, Arunkumar Kembhavi said a vigilance team of the corporation had on January 12 detected a remote-controlled device installed in M/s Sai Prakash Industries for bypassing the meters and quick action was taken against the industry by way of filing an FIR and serving a provisional compensation bill of Rs 3,48,69,143.
“I had placed my appreciation for the officer on record who led the team. Subsequently, when it was observed that the provisional compensation bill served was unusually high, the Director, Distribution as an appellate authority for vigilance had at his level convened a meeting with the CE Distribution, CE Commercial and ACE Eastern Zone and recommended for waiving of 50% compensation and withdrawal of FIR based on the legal opinion of the law officer. The undersigned had approved the same,” he wrote in the letter.
On January 25, Kembhavi had received anonymous information about power theft in Byrnihat area. It was informed the January 12 findings were the tip of the iceberg and that pilferage could be found not only at all major industries but in MeECL’s Rajabagan Substation (SS).
“When we reached Rajabagan SS, we found that only one home guard and one linesman were present and no technical person (JE and above) was available. I asked for the register of load-shedding and log book details of incoming power but nothing was available and no record was maintained. The infrastructure was in a pitiable condition. The lineman told me that not even a single light bulb is there in the actual substation area and at night time they are forced to use torchlight to identify any defects…
“For some industries, monthly billing is being done based on the injection meter installed at SS but when I checked the meters, all meter boxes were opened and terminal boxes (TBs) were also sealed but inside the TBs, input and output cables were shorted using a loose strip. The same modus operandi was adopted in most of the meters installed in the SS,” Kembhavi said.
After inspecting the 33/11 KV Rajabagan SS, Kembhavi and his officer visited the 132 KV EPIP-I SS and checked the meters installed at injection point in the presence of SE (T&T) and another Executive Engineer.
“Later we checked the energy records and found within EPIP-I Premises that per month around 3% energy loss i.e. more than 14.8 lakh units, which is very high compared to market standards,” the letter reads.
It translates to a monetary loss of nearly Rs 1 crore per month. Although it is within the permissible limits set by MSERC, the efficiency demands that loss at 132KV SS should be within 1%. MSERC is also being requested to revise it to 1% through a formal petition.
According to Kembhavi, it was found that many meters installed were more than 10-year-old and obsolete and they were never calibrated in the past despite the fact that these are high value customers and major revenue of MeECL comes from industry area thereby throwing all caution to the winds.
“After visiting the 132 KV EPIP-I SS, they again visited Rajabagan SS to check the unit consumption pattern of industries and to their surprise, the lineman was getting frantic calls from the industries asking whether the team came for surprise visit had left or not and if yes, then they will start the full load which again created doubt that something irregular was happening and our own people were involved in this,” Kembhavi wrote in his letter.
“All necessary energy records, pictures and videos of the meters were taken for future inquiry and reference. Multiple copies have been kept safely. In order to verify that leakage in energy is going on, we started calculating the injection energy of SS and while matching it with outgoing meters at SS, the duo found a difference of more than 6% within a span of less than 15 days. Also, while studying the current profile of meters installed at industry end and meter installed at SS end, huge spikes were noticed leading to variation of up to 47% in some cases. Some industries’ meters were reset multiple times in a day, which is again something unusual,” he said.
Kembhavi also said that MeECL’s major revenue comes from industries and such leakage leads to huge revenue loss to the corporation.
As a result of the surprise visit and many other reforms, revenue collection in the last two months has increased substantially. For the month of March, it crossed Rs 100 crore compared to Rs 60-65 crore average revenue collection. The lapse of not ensuring proper vigilance and checking of meters caused a huge amount of presumptive loss to the corporation in the last many years, the letter said.
“When I came back to the office the next day i.e., 27th January, I asked the Addl Chief Engineer i/c Eastern Zone whether he has ever visited any SS and opened the meters, the answer was in the negative. I asked SE, Ri Bhoi to seal all the meters and send me the seal numbers for record-keeping. This way if anyone tampers with the meters again to make it look like ok, I would have had the seal numbers and it would have been impossible for anyone to break open the seal. I had also asked the SE, Ri Bhoi to send a formal report on all the inspected meters and it was surprising to note that he had given a clean chit to all the meters saying the meters have been found accurate,” he wrote.
Immediately thereafter, Kembhavi issued an order summarily transferring all the vigilance officers for an impartial probe without interference, but most of them have not joined their new places of posting, thereby violating all norms and MeECL service conditions.
He added that appropriate action shall be taken at a suitable time for this lackadaisical attitude, disobedience and insubordination.
“After a thorough investigation, if it is established that vigilance officers posted in Byrnihat area in the last many years have willingly abetted theft and pilferage through collusion with industries, exemplary action shall be taken against such officers including dismissal from service,” Kembhavi warned.
He said exemplary damages would be claimed from the industries which have been all along beneficiaries of the malpractice.
“I have entrusted the inquiry to an independent and neutral agency which is conducting a quiet probe using state of the art technology. It is going on for the last two months and it is on the verge of completion. Also, I was away on training in Mussoorie Academy from February 22nd till March 19th. Therefore, the government could not be recommended any action in the last few months.”
“The agency has reported that all the meters are tampered to an extent of 6% to 47%. The extent of corruption and collusion is mind-boggling. At this stage, I am not inclined to disclose much about the probe for obvious reasons. However, once the probe is complete, I shall send the report in a sealed envelope to the government,” Kembhavi said.
He also said that the monthly loss analysis reports submitted by the field officers of Byrnihat from time to time also showed huge losses every month. This was not addressed by the superior officers, which shows rampant corruption at many levels. Losses are ranging from 6 to 8 lakh units per month at Byrnihat 33/11 KV SS, which is massive. No follow up or corrective action from the field officers was observed, which shows the exercise of sending loss reports was only cosmetic, Kembhavi said.
He said the same probe needs to be initiated at all major substations, especially in industrial areas like Umiam, Khliehriat and others. If the same pattern is replicated elsewhere, accountability for the lapse needs to be fixed and revenue loss needs to be recovered from the officers responsible, he said.
“Therefore, in the backdrop of all these facts and general allegations, which run deep and across decades and departments, it is my considered opinion that the internal inquiry is inadequate to go into such magnitude. Hence, the case be referred to an independent inquiry committee outside of MeECL or hand over the probe to an investigative agency as deemed fit by the competent authorities,” he further wrote.
