Power mafia in Mumbai
Power Mafia is giving shocks to RIL, cutting Rs. 1 crore every month

Special Correspondent, Mumbai

Power mafia in Mumbai is giving serious shocks to BSES (Now REL) in Mumbai suburbs and is stealing Rs.1 crore worth of electricity every month. This was unearthed when the Malvani Police Station arrested a gang of power thieves. A case of 76,000 unit electricity theft worth Rs.3.20 lakhs has been registered against them.

A source says that these gangs laid down a cable from BSES junction box to 200 houses of this area illegally. This gang was charging Rs.50 per bulb (point) per household. He says, 'I want to stop all the power theft which is happening in my area but to do the same I need full support from BSES officials too. Due to this power theft it is not just the BSES who is suffering, indirectly we are also paying higher rates for the electricity.'

A highly placed source from BSES (Now REL) says, 'This is just a tip of an iceberg. There are many gangs operating in slums, bathi chawls and lower income group areas. Due to them the BSES is suffering heavy losses. It is not possible to arrest them without the help of Mumbai Police, but it is not providing us proper support.'

When this reporter investigated, he found that power mafia is using telephone copper wiring to provide illegal electricity connections. If the BSES vigilance will conduct a raid at illegal connection point, then the owner of household or business premises can easily eliminate the doubts of electricity theft by saying that it is a telephone wire, is not for electricity supply.

The power mafia is mainly operating in areas such as Dharavi, Kandivali, Malad and Goregaon.  Sources revealed that in Charkop - Gandhi Nagar, KD compound, Islam compound, Gulli in front of petrol pump of Kandivali (W), Malwani Gate no.8 area, behind Malwani bus depot, Mahakali area, Ambuja Wadi, 5 no, Collector Compound of Malvani sector, Veerwani Industrial area of Goregaon (E), Witt Bhatti area, Dindoshi, Pathanwadi of Malad (E) and Somwari Bajar, Bombay Talkies of Malad (W). A rough estimate of I lakh premises have been given this illegal facility by Power mafia and they collect approximately Rs.1 crore from these premises monthly.

Power Mafia works on a small cluster of houses or business/ industrial premises at a time. Each gang is handling 100 to 500 houses or premises. They are charging Rs.300 to Rs.5,000 as per their clients' requirements. A source revealed that power mafia is working with connivance of BSES employees. These employees provide easy access to junction boxes for the gangs to get connections. For their services, power mafia is paying Rs.10 to 25 thousand to BSES employees. Alternatively, these power mafias also use 'Kaanta' technique. In this technique power mafia takes a line from nearest electricity pole and connects it to their clients' premises.

A senior police official says, 'When REL vigilance officers raid such premises, they only cut the wire and do not penalize the offenders. They should come to us and register a case under IPC and Electricity act.  Now onwards power theft is also a cognizable offence and not only BSES, the police can take action too.'

TABLE :
Power mafia Rates for per premises

House - Rs.300 to 500

Shops - Rs.500 to 800

Small Scale Industries - Rs.800 to 1500

Big consumers - Rs.5000 and above

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