Govt mum on GEB proposal of special police stations

VADODARA: Despite frequent attacks on the GEB staff, the government has been mum over the GEB’s proposal on setting up of special police stations in the five zones — Vadodara, Surat, Rajkot, Bhavnagar and Mehsana —to tackle power theft and attack on Geb staff.
GEB sources told TNN that the proposal was sent to the additional chief secretary, home department in February last year.It entailed empowering the staff with police powers as is in the case of prohibition and other departments.
Electricity being the key sector, the pace of development in all the other sector depends on the level of power supply .
Speedy economic growth has had an impact on the law and order problem. Unauthorised electric connections, rampant power theft and attack on GEB staff are its manifestations. Indeed, some staff members have succumbed to injuries. Yet the government has not done anything to tackle the situation, it was felt.
Power theft to the tune of Rs 190 crore was reported last year. The absence of effective action emboldens the miscreants. It cripples the GEB’s revenue and financial position.
In fact when top police personnel are deputed to GEB to look after these and security issues, it is imperative that positive steps are taken to curb the ills. Now officers on deputation cannot take prompt and effective steps as they do not enjoy police power during their tenure in GEB. They have to approach police stations.
Varacha in Surat, Godhra in Panchmahals district, Porbander and Bhavnagar are some sensitive spots where strong headed people and anti-social elements intimidate GEB staff. Local police stations plead inadequate staff.
The GEB argued that empowering executive engineers and deputy engineers with police powers can solve the problem to some extent.
GEB chairperson Manjula Subramanium, member finance MM Srivastava, member administration Guruprasad Mohapatra, secretary HS Patel are among those who favour it.
On the lines of CID, CBI, DCB, PCB, these police power can be given to separate police stations exclusively for GEB.
If Gujarat does it, it will be the first state in the western region to have police stations handling electricity issues.