Patna, May 04: Leader of Opposition Abdul Bari Siddique today demanded a CBI probe into the alleged revenue loss of over Rs 4000 crore by Bihar State Electricity Board since 2008 due to non-realisation of penalty from industrial units.
Siddique in a letter to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said a state agency was incapable of probing the matter and the CBI probe would rein in electricity theft, increase the revenue of the department and improve power supply in Bihar.
He claimed that 53 industrial units had been found guilty of involvement in deliberate theft of electricty by tampering meters and resorting to other measures apparently with the help of BSEB engineers.
But the concerned department relaxed the rules of penalty and allowed those involved in electricity theft to get away with minor fines, he said, adding it later barred suprise checks at the industrial installations to detect electricity thefts.
The relaxation in the BSEB rules were pointer to the involvement of its officials and engineers in causing revenue loss to the former for personal gains, he alleged.
If the penalties to be realised from all firms and industrial units in the state were added then the amount would exceed Rs 4000 crore, he said adding the revenue loss to BSEB was caused by its officials and engineers in collusion with ”some powerful people in power”.
——PTI—–