KPDCL Tightens Noose Against Erring Consumers, 1117 consumers disconnected; Rs.29.89 cr revenue realized in 4 days

Srinagar, November 25:(GNS) In order to provide relief to the genuine consumers, Kashmir Power Distribution Corporation Limited (KPDCL) has said that it has escalated its night patrolling and inspection drives to tighten noose against erring consumers who indulge in widespread hooking, violation of agreed load and bypassing of the meters.

In a handout to GNS, the KPDCL said that it also collected a revenue of Rs.29.89 crore from consumers over the last 4 days amidst scaled up drives to check energy pilferage that primarily results in outages and damage to transformers, thus brining hardships upon genuine consumers. A revenue of Rs.9.18 crore as pending arrear dues were collected on Friday alone by the Corporation.

Giving details, a KPDCL spokesperson today stated that out of 1153 inspections carried out in Kashmir Division, 98 were conducted in Circle I Srinagar, 233 in Circle II Srinagar, 367 in Circle Ganderbal, 140 in Circle Pulwama, 142 in Circle Bijbehara and 154 in Circle Sopore. Around 228 KW load was added across the 6 Circles of the Corporation during these drives.

Penalty of Rs.7.81 lakh was also imposed on those who were unauthorisedly using power in terms of Section 126 of the Electricity Act.
The spokesperson further stated that another 1117 domestic, commercial and industrial connections were also disconnected for non-payment of energy dues which were pending for more than three months.

This includes 886 domestic, 212 commercial and 17 industrial consumers.
Meanwhile, 62 Domestic Transformers (DTs) were also reported damaged on Friday due to overloading, up from 52 reported on Thursday. KPDCL also repaired and replaced 61 transformers on Friday, to comply with the directions issued for replacement of the damaged DTs.

The spokesman expressed concern over the steady procession of damaged DTs at Central Workshop Pampore and the divisional workshops of KPDCL, thus putting strain on meeting the timelines fixed by the Government.

In an attempt to collect pending energy dues, KPDCL realized a revenue of Rs.29.89 crore from the consumers, including Rs.9.18 crore on Friday. The corporation requested its consumers to pay their pending bills or the Corporation will be left with no option but to disconnect their power supply, reads the statement.(GNS)

SIA arrests Sarjan Barkati’s wife in terror funding case

Srinagar, Nov 24: The State Investigation Agency (SIA) on Friday said to have arrested one lady namely Shabroza Bano wife of Sarjan Ahmad Wagay alias Barkati of South Kashmir.

“She, along with her husband, has been found involved in terror financing by raising money through crowd funding. A case under FIR number 02/2023 under section 13,17,18,21,39,40 UA(P) Act, 120-B IPC of police station, SIA pertains to the involvement of Barkati family in orchestrating an extensive fund-raising campaign through crowd funding, resulting in the generation of funds amounting to crores,” a statement issued to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) said.

As per a statement, these funds were subsequently misused, involving money laundering and acquisition of undisclosed assets for propagation of radicalism within the Kashmir valley.

“While Sarjan Barkati was arrested in August this year, his wife Shabroza Bano has been evading arrest after her role surfaced in the case. During the investigation of SIA Shabroza Bano came out as one of the conspirators and was found hand in glove with her husband and Pak based terror handlers in the terror funding case,” the statement said.

“The investigation reveals that Shabroza Bano has remained in constant contact with Pakistani handlers through encrypted messaging platforms. Consequently, she was arrested today on 24.11.2023. Barkati and his family had managed to raise approximately Rs 1.74 crores through crowd funding campaigns. These funds were raised for personal gains and a significant portion of the collected funds was allegedly misused for undisclosed purposes, including financing of secessionist and terrorist activities,” the statement added.

A substantial portion of the acquired funds had been deposited in various Fixed Deposit Receipts (FDRs) under the names of Barkati’s family members, raising questions about the legitimacy of the sources and utilization of the funds.

Pertinent to mention that the main accused in the case Sarjan Barkati was a prominent figure in organizing large-scale protests, rallies, and clashes with security forces in 2016.

During that period he was instrumental in abetting youth to storm security forces establishments for which more than 30 FIRs were registered against him in various police stations of the valley—(KNO)