Thaindian News

Muzaffarnagar, Dec 22 (IANS) A steel factory, owned by the family of an influential Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader, has been listed among over a dozen industrial units found stealing electricity worth crores of rupees, say Uttar Pradesh power corporation officials.

They say two cases of power theft have been registered but no action has been taken. BSP rules Uttar Pradesh.

The officials lodged an FIR at the Mansoorpur police station against 13 industrial units in and around here in which the factory linked to the BSP politician was allegedly found involved.

The furnace at the steel plant was found illegally drawing electricity from the Nara power station along with 12 other industrial units, the officials said.

In the other case, lodged at the Civil Lines police station, the power meter at the unit was found tampered with, Uttar Pradesh Power Corp Ltd (UPPCL) officials alleged.

General penalties ranging from Rs.5 crore to Rs.13 crore were imposed on the 13 industrial units, including Rana Steels Ltd, in which Noor Islam Rana, son of BSP MP Kadir Rana, is the managing director.

The MP feels he is being unfairly accused. “Injustice is being done against us,” was all Rana would tell IANS, declining to go into details.

The amount of electricity theft in the Mansoorpur case runs into an estimated Rs.80 crore as assessed by the power department.

Departmental sources and documents with this IANS correspondent reveal that on March 18, 2010, an inspection by power corporation engineers found power was being stolen from the 220 KV Nara power station.

After two days of inspection at the power station, a team of senior engineers raided the premises of the factory, M/S Rana Steels Ltd, owned by the BSP leader’s family.

The team found the meters tampered with. A power official lodged an FIR with the Civil Lines police station.

Five UPPCL officials who were suspended after the theft was found in the Muzaffarnagar unit have been reinstated.

“Police are still investigating the case. No progress has been reported to the department till now even after 15 months,” Gopal Singh, an executive engineer with the UPPCL, told IANS.

“Failing to realise the loss incurred, the power corporation imposed general penalties on the other units on the presumption that others might also be involved in the theft. But the inspection report prepared by power engineers later gave them a clean chit,” one of the victims of the general penalties told IANS on condition of anonymity.

The victims of general penalties are contesting the case in the Allahabad High Court.

“In the FIR, in which 13 units were penalised, the initial Rs.80 crore assessment had come down to about Rs.40 crore through re-assessment of the loss. A compounding assessment was deposited to the tune of about Rs.20 crore,” said Gopal Singh.

Muzaffarnagar Senior Superintendent of Police Praveen Kumar said: “The accused has written to police that he is negotiating with the department for compounding.”

(S.P. Singh can be contacted at spsinghg@gmail.com)