Fuses stolen from around 100 transformers every morning in Nashik's Satpur, residents in dark for hours
Mahavitaran says a group of women has been removing fuses from distribution points in Satpur for eight days, and has sought police action and public help.
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Fuses have been stolen from Mahavitaran's distribution points (DPs), or transformers, in the Satpur division of Nashik city for the past eight days. Residents have had to stay in the dark for hours and daily life has been disrupted. The group is said to be active in the Mahatma Nagar and College Road areas.
Satpur is a large industrial area with densely populated residential colonies as well, so it has a large number of DPs. According to Mahavitaran, a group of women thieves is exploiting this. Every morning, the group removes fuses without permission from at least 100 small and large DPs and takes them away. This cuts the area's power supply, and people are suffering outages in the intense heat.
Mahavitaran said it immediately wrote to the local police stations as soon as it learnt of the matter. The letter demands strict legal action against the group of women thieves.
Mahavitaran has also appealed to the public for help. If anyone notices suspicious activity in their area, or sees women collecting scrap near a DP, they should be stopped immediately. Such suspicious persons can be caught and handed straight over to the police. People can also call Mahavitaran's helpline numbers 7875766442, 7875766443 and 7875766446 to give information at once.
Mahavitaran officials said the fuse thefts mostly take place in the morning, when people have left home for work and jobs. Some people do not complain immediately, thinking that some repair work on the power system may be under way. As a result, after 5 pm, when people return home, Mahavitaran is suddenly flooded with complaints about power cuts.
Mahavitaran is short of staff. Fitting new fuses and restoring supply in several areas at once is a big struggle for its employees, and it takes several hours.
The areas worst hit by the string of thefts include Mahatma Nagar, Vavare Lane, Advait Colony, Model Colony, Shramik Colony, Uday Nagar, D'Souza Colony, ST Colony, Manik Nagar, Vise Mala, Architect Colony, the Vishwas Bank area, Savarkar Nagar and College Road. Darkness is spreading there. The incidents have increased as the heat has intensified, and people are angry.
