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Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not only praised the Maharashtra model of power distribution, which has successfully cut down distribution losses substantially, but he might encourage other state governments to take cue from the western state. 

The State-run Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company (MahaVitaran)’s loss has fallen to 14 per cent in 2013-14 from as high as 35 per cent in 2004-05. This was possible after MahaVitaran launched a slew of measures, including constant anti-theft drives, photo meter reading, installation of distribution transformer centres and feeder metering and action against erring employees.

Besides, it set up dedicated police stations for handling theft , energy accounting of feeders, mass meter replacements, tracking doubtful consumers, shifting meters in the front of the house and restrict supply in theft-prone areas. The state distribution utility also established an all-women Damini Squad to check irregularities in meter reading.

MahaVitaran's loss reduction came up for discussion during a detailed presentation made to Modi by the union power minister on the national power scenario. Modi, in the run-up to the election, had attacked the Congress-led Maharashtra government for its inability to provide round-the-clock power on the lines of Gujarat.

However, he praised it for implementing a well-articulated loss reduction model.

A MahaVitaran official. ''Power theft was one of the most serious issues before the restructuring.Earlier, MahaVitaran was having only 36 flying squads but now, another 125 were added. MahaVitaran has detected INR 10 crore worth thefts in May and INR 16 crore worth thefts in June across the state through such anti-theft drives.'' Further, the official informed that MahaVitaran established six dedicated police stations at Kalyan, Pune, Nagpur, Latur, Jalna and Nashik to handle the power theft cases quickly.

Source-On Request