Why darkness looms over the edge of Mumbai

Faced with the wrath of consumers — and orchestrated violence by local politicians — officials now blame ‘‘the culture of power theft’’. The losses to the Bhandup zone: Rs 35 crore in a month. The records show about 20 per cent of all power distributed here is stolen.

It’s this culture of theft that is directly responsible for blackouts up to six hours that now plague many areas in the zone.

So when residents and powerlooms in Bhiwandi met chief engineer Anil Khaparde of MSEB’s Bhandup zone on Wednesday, they did not want to talk about the town’s six- to eight-hour blackouts.

‘‘All these meetings are an eyewash,’’ declared Purushottam Vanga, a powerloom weaver. ‘‘If the MSEB wanted, it could bring down the power thefts to nil.’’

Vanga said for more than four years, there were entire transformers being illegally tapped. On paper, nobody pays for the electricity that flows from them, yet they keep running.

‘‘We are not Pune or Kalyan; we won’t protest because we’re so used to it,’’ said Khaparde.

Residents said action against power theft is taken against those who have a meter, not against those who tap the lines directly.

Superintendent Engineer for Bhiwandi, K.M. Vani, said departmental action has been taken against 85 employees for their alleged complicity.

A big problem with power theft is delayed judgement, so engineers now hope a bill passed last month clearing six special MSEB courts statewide with special police stations attached to them will be of help. ‘‘A local court takes at least two years to dispose of our cases and this makes it difficult for us to take action against miscreants,’’ explained Superintendent Engineer N.A. Khan. By December, the MSEB court and police station in Thane will handle all electricity theft cases in the Bhandup zone.

Until then, the MSEB must follow routine. When a power hack is detected, engineers must get local police to file an FIR. The case goes to the local district court, where there is no immediate action, said engineers.