The use of drones for air surveillance is helping the Lucknow Electricity Supply Administration (LESA) check power theft in the city big time. According to Sanjay Jain, chief engineer, LESA Cis-Gomti, the body has caught more than 200 power thieves with photo evidence through the use of drones.
The official added, “In some areas of the city where our staff faced some resistance due to narrow lanes, we decided to use drones to catch power thieves. During the last month, we have caught more than 200 people at six places. These residents used to fix a ‘katia’ to the power line at night and take it off before 4 am. Through drones, we secured the footage of people fixing the katia connections and taking it off in the morning hours. When we raided these houses to cut off their connections, we had hard evidence.”
He further said, “Presently, we have hired a few drones to catch power thieves but if this project is successful, then, we will purchase a few more drones not only for catching thieves but also for patrolling. We can also use it to locate faults at various places. The use of technology will only increase the efficiency of LESA.”
Due to constant checking drives during the day time, people started using the katia during night hours — primarily between 11 pm to 4 am. Due to this, the load on substations used to increase rapidly. For example, the load on the sub-station of New Campus on Sitapur road used to hover around 107 amperes during the day time but would jump to 140 amperes during the night. Similarly, in Azad Nagar substation under Amberganj area, the load used to remain at 90 amperes during the day but would jump to 140 amperes during the night. In Gaughat substation, the load used to remain around 52 amperes during the day but during the nights, it would go up to 100 amperes, indicating power theft.
The control rooms of the sub-stations after constant monitoring proved that the power load used to increase after 11 pm in some areas. There are 150 sub-stations in the state capital. These substations supply power through two thousand feeders. Out of these, 200 feeders record more cases of power theft, said chief engineer Sanjay Jain.
The LESA team was surprised when it caught power theft in each and every house of Muftiganj’s Jehra Colony in May. Similar was the case in Masalchi Tola. About 1,800 consumers are supplied from Kadam Rasool feeder of Ahibaranpur sub-station of Daliganj section. LESA does not get the revenue of about 63% of the total electricity supplied. The electricity supplied here is stolen on a large scale. At the same time, there are many people who do not pay the bills at all. In the last three months, 250 cases of power theft have been registered in this area.
Around 2,200 consumers are supplied from Kasim Ali feeder under Chowk section but 70% of the supply is stolen in this feeder. Areas like Machli Mohal, Maulviganj, Najaf National Uptron of Cis-Gomti area, Laleshwar Sapsan of Cess Block 4, Asaram Road, Transportnagar, Mansoornagar, Amberganj, Thakurganj, Aminabad, and Rakabganj have reported a relatively higher rate of power theft.
”After night patrolling by our engineers and the use of drones, there is a 15% drop in power theft. With the use of the latest technology and strict monitoring, we are confident of achieving better results in the days to come,” said the chief engineer.
