Staff Reporter (Kishoreganj) :
The shops installed on the sidewalks of Kishoreganj town are lit by stolen electricity. It is known that hundreds of lamps are burning with illegally taken electricity. On average Tk. 20 to 25 taka is collected per lamp per day, an influential gang is grabbing lakhs of taka per month through illegal electricity connection.
There are some dishonest employees of PDB in this cycle. On the other hand, the government is losing revenue by stealing electricity directly from the electric poles. In order to save electricity, similar to the rest of the country, many instructions have been issued including closing shops and markets after 8 pm in Kishoreganj
According to that, even though the big shops and shopping malls are closed after the scheduled time, the sidewalk vendors are doing business freely with illegal electricity connection from the poles. As a result, the role of PDB in Kishoreganj in fulfilling all the instructions of the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources is questionable. The festival of illegal electricity connection is going on under their noses.
The municipal areas shine with the lights of the shops till late night. However, most of the electricity connections here are illegal. The same scene is on the footpaths of the main thoroughfares of the town. Cases of illegal electricity connection are more on Terriputti (Bara Bazar), Nutun Bazar, Gourango Bazar Bridge, Puranthana, and Bata Bazar square . Talking to the owners and employees of the mobile shops on the footpath of Bara Bazar (Terriputti) , Gourango Bazar bridge it is known that they pay Tk. 20 to 25 for a lamp every day. But this money is not deposited in the BPDB. The influential circles of the town grabbed the money. A shopkeeper said, ‘He pays Tk. 20 per day to a person for a lamp. Another shopkeeper said, ‘We run the line. Electricity bill amounts to 25. I do not know whether to pay the bill or not. ‘
Monowar Hossein Rony, CAB general secretary in Kishoreganj said, there is an electricity crisis in the whole country. At this time the authority’s concerned need to urgently take action against illegal connections in pavement shops. On the one hand electricity is being stolen due to illegal connection; on the other hand the government is losing revenue. .
BPDB in Kishoreganj Executive Engineer Md.Salauddin said, ‘We conduct regular operations every month. If we find an illegal connection in the campaign, we will cut the connection with a fine.’
PDB officials said, about the illegal connection, ‘we conducted a raid on the footpath fined the hawkers who took illegal electricity connection. Many of them want to buy meters legally but do not have any commercial license from the Municipality. As a result we cannot give them electricity meters. But soon I will conduct a raid and take action against those who take illegal connections, BPDB executive engineer added.
