After Electricity Theft Charge, Rs 1.91 Crore Fine On Sambhal MP Ziaur Rahman Barq

The electricity department has alleged electricity theft by Barq by bypassing meter installed at his residence

Sambhal: There seems no end to troubles of Samajwadi Party MP Ziaur Rahman Barq from Sambhal in Uttar Pradesh.

After a case of electricity theft, now the electricity department has imposed a fine of Rs 1.91 crore on the MP. A case was earlier registered against Barq at Sadar Kotwali for inciting the violence that took place in Sambhal on November 24. On Thursday morning, a team of electricity department officials reached the residence of Barq amid tight security cover by RPF, PAC and local police personnel. The team installed a smart electricity meter at the MP's house after removing the old meter on suspicion of power theft. The team checked the reading of the smart meter installed at the MP's house.

The team was led by Executive Engineer of Electricity Department Naveen Kumar Gautam, City SDO Santosh Tripathi. It was accompanied by civil and police officials including ASP Shreesh Chandra, CO Asmoli Alok Kumar Sidhu, PAC and RAF personnel.

Electricity theft by bypassing meter

Superintendent Engineer of Electricity Vinod Kumar Gupta said as per the MRI report of the old meter installed at Barq's residence, electricity theft was done by bypassing the meter. Following the findings of the report, a team of the electricity department once again reached the MP's house along with police personnel on Thursday and after taking the readings of both the smart meters, electrical appliances installed in his house were checked.

Disparity in meter reading

It was found that there are two electricity connections of 2 kilowatts each at Barq's residence. However, more than 16 kilowatts of electricity was being consumed at the house, the electricity department officials said. The electricity department filed a case against the SP MP for electricity theft. However, now the problems of the SP MP have increased as after the case was filed for electricity theft, now a fine of one crore 1.91 crore has been imposed on him.

Zero reading

Apart from the electricity meter, the officials of the electricity department also checked the power appliances at the MP's house, Gautam said. The department had suspected irregularities in both the old meters installed at the SP MP's house. It was claimed that stolen electricity was being used in the house as both the meters were showing zero reading.

However, the MP's advocate Qasim Jamal said a 10 kilowatt solar plant is installed at his client's house which is the only power source at the house.“This is the reason the electricity bill of the house is zero. The SP MP pays the monthly charge for electricity,” Jamal said. Barq has been critical of the Yogi Adityanath led BJP government over its alleged crackdown on Muslims in the state.

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