Mahavitaran brings down distribution losses by 6.5 %

Mumbai, Jan 1 (UNI) Mahavitaran, Maharashtra government's power distribution company today said that it has managed to bring down Transmission and Distribution (T&D) losses by 6.5 per cent within a year.

Addressing a press conference here, Mahavitaran MD Ajay Bhushan Pandey said that in 2006-07, the losses were 28.85 per cent and in the present year it has been brought down to 22.35 per cent.

He attributed the turnaround in the company's fortunes to successful launch of a massive campaign against power theft, implementation of Krishi Swabhiman Yojana, energy accounting by initiating photo meter reading system and installation of meters of feeders.

Mr Pandey said that each per cent of loss amounts to saving or losing Rs 150 crore to Rs 200 crore per year. ''We can safely say that about Rs 1000 crore has been added to our collection,'' he added.

During the one year period, 60,518 cases of power theft were detected out of which FIR was filed in 6502 cases and Rs 30.49 crore was recovered.

He informed that the crackdown against power theft had the full backing of the Government and the Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh in particular. ''The Chief Minister told us that a campaign against power theft will have the full backing of the administration. He told us that unless distribution losses due to power theft are not contained, there is no future for the power sector in Maharashtra,'' Mr Pandey said.

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