Detecting electricity theft curse fell on Yusuf Ali!

  • Serajul Islam Siraj, Special Correspondent, Barta24.com,Dhaka
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photo: Collected

photo: Collected

Catching electricity theft that has been going on for a decade was Yusuf Ali's curse. The customer accused of theft was supposed to be punished and Yusuf Ali, as an electricity worker who uncovered the theft, was supposed to be rewarded. But Dhaka Power Distribution Company (DPDC) did the opposite.

Technical supervisor Yusuf Ali was dismissed from his job for fear of being caught by the syndicate involved in electricity theft. And all sorts of ridiculous allegations have been made against him which do not fall under his authority or responsibility? The reason for the dismissal has been mentioned, not collecting the actual readings of the customer's actual electricity consumption meters, and taking unclear snapshots.

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Yusuf Ali was also not one to be silenced; he has also thrown a challenge. He has written an application saying that taking meter readings and taking snapshots is not our responsibility. These are the work of the commercial supervisor. He also wrote, if I am responsible, I will definitely take the punishment. If not, I want my job back.

How the incident began:

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Yusuf Ali told Barta24.com, Musa Majid (43/A), an expatriate from Eskaton area, was using excess load as per the record. On the instructions of the executive engineer, I sent the lineman to write a letter for the unauthorized increase in excess load. The lineman went to the spot and found that both meters were down (readings much lower than the bill). When the lineman informed me on the phone, I quickly went to the spot. When I found evidence of meter tampering, I immediately informed the executive engineer. Then a team from the DPDC control room came and disconnected the connection from the pole. Ayub Ali, the manager of the expatriate customer, admitted to meter tampering. After that, I gave the two meters to him.

In his confession, Ayub Ali mentioned, 'I tampered with the two meters in the garage of the house 7/8 years ago. Since then, I have been paying the meter readers every month. The current meter reader Abbas has agreed to pay Tk. 10,000 per month. That is how I have been paying Tk. 10,000 every month. He has said that he will look into it if there is any problem.’

Before the tampering was detected, 246 units were being used in the month of May (2024) (19266226). The previous month there were 262 units. Bills ranging from a minimum of 144 to a maximum of 477 units were billed. In the meantime, the bill has fluctuated. And after the tampering, the bill for 2940 and 2501 units of electricity in October (2024) and November (2024) was Tk. 42,238 and Tk. 36,056 respectively. DPDC has received a bill for Tk. 25,000 to Tk. 30,000 against that meter 8 years ago (before tampering) which fluctuated from 2 to a maximum of Tk. 4,500 in the previous months. After the installation of the new meter, the bill for Tk. 42,000 was also received in the winter, meaning that there was an electricity theft of more than Tk. 40,000 every month.

According to the rules, in such cases, the meter should be checked and a fine should be imposed. A fine of about Tk. one crore should be imposed, but a different incident happened in the case of customer Musa Majid. No fine was reported. Not only that, but even though Yusuf Ali disconnected the connection, the customer secretly restored the line illegally with the help of another group of DPDC.

It has been alleged that to save the accused Musa Majid, DPDC's outsourcing company coordinator (Moon Power Engineering), DPDC's Kakrail Zone Superintendent Engineer Hanif Uddin and DPDC's Director (Admin) Sonamoni Chakma are carrying out various conspiracies. Many people from DPDC's Kakrail Zone and head office are involved. It is said that a settlement was reached with the customer for Tk. 16 lakh. In exchange, Yusuf Ali, who detected the theft, was fired and the accused customer Musa Majid got a clean chit.

Coordinator Mominul Haque told Barta24.com, "I am not involved in this. In response to a question about whether the accused customer was fined, he said, "A new investigation committee has been formed and they will be able to say. I have not heard any information about any fine before that."

The then executive engineer of DPDC Kakrail Zone, Mehedi Hasan, has been transferred to the Tongi Store Management Division. He told Barta24.com, "We could not determine the fine, so it was sent to the Metering Division. They will be able to say the matter. However, no fine was imposed while I was there."

At one time, the sole responsibility for electricity distribution in the capital Dhaka and its suburbs, Gazipur and Narayanganj, was in the hands of DESA (Dhaka Electricity Distribution Authority). When the organization was involved in widespread corruption, it was dissolved and two companies were formed. The company responsible for the north was named DESCO. And the DPDC was responsible for the south.

It took over all the assets and liabilities from DESA and started commercial operations on July 1, 2008. DPDC started its operations with 655,908 customers, but currently the number of customers has exceeded 1829,000. It is said that a large number of corrupt people remain in DPDC. Due to which this company is lagging behind in various aspects including system losses. The case of Yusuf Ali can be a suitable example of how active the dishonest syndicate is.