nA special court has attached 21 properties of people sentenced in separate cases of power theft in various parts of East Delhi, a BSES spokesperson said on Thursday.
The properties were sealed between August 21 and September 9, after the people convicted for power theft failed to pay fines, he said.
"In far-reaching separate orders, the Special Court of Electricity, Karkardooma, attached properties in Karawal Nagar, Harsh Vihar, New Usmanpur, Gokalpur, Bhajanpura, Welcome Colony, Seelampur, Khajoori Khas, GTB Enclave and other areas, in cases of power theft," the spokesperson said.
The "power thieves" were cumulatively stealing around 550 KW of lectricity and penalties of around Rs 6.2 crore were levied as per guidelines, he said, adding that in 16 cases, electricity was being stolen by way of direct theft and in the remaining five cases, through metre tampering.
Though aggregate technical and commercial (AT&C) losses largely on account of power-theft have reduced by over 50 percent in Delhi, but there are pockets where it continues to be a menace, the spokesman said.
"Efforts of discoms teams to check the irregularities are routinely thwarted by the local miscreants on many occasions. Even efforts to spruce-up network are resisted in certain unauthorized colonies. Whenever inspection teams reach there, unscrupulous elements of the area 'gherao' them and don't let them check their premises," he said.
Talking about the menace of power theft, BSES spokesperson said that the discom urge consumers to use electricity legally, and not indulge in power theft by any means.
"Consumers are also requested to help the discom in its crusade against power-theft, which is a punishable crime as per Electricity Act, 2003. Under the Electricity Act, 2003, power theft attracts a penalty and imprisonment up to five years," he added.
BRPL and BYPL, Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited (TPDDL) are three main BSES discoms supplying electricity to the national capital. They are joint ventures involving the Delhi government. Power-theft.