YEH MERA INDIA
Cops & ‘Shankar Bhagwan’
An extortionist who identified himself as ‘Shankar Bhagwan’ while demanding Rs 2 crore from BJP MLA Sardar Tara Singh has been arrested. His reason for taking on this avatar-he took the advice of a tantric a little too literally.
Vijay Kumar Gupta, a rickshaw driver who lives in Mulund (E), had phoned singh and threatened him with dire consequences if he did not pay up.
According to the Antop Hill police, Gupta allegedly introduced himself as ‘Shankar Bhagwan’ and said, "Have you not heard of Shankar Bhagwan? You have no idea what I can do to you. If you want to save your life, come to the Mulund dumping ground with Rs 2 crore."
Police traced the mobile Singh received the call from, and zeroed in on Gupta. He was arrested from his home which is not too far from the dumping ground. On interrogation, he told officers that a tantrik had told him to take the name of any Lord while entering into any deal. So he decided to use the name of Shankar Bhagwan as his own and phoned Singh.
"We are interrogating Gupta further," said senior Inspector Shivram Devkar.
He has been booked under Section 387 (extortion) and remanded in police custody.
Vijay Kumar Gupta, a rickshaw driver who lives in Mulund (E), had phoned singh and threatened him with dire consequences if he did not pay up.
According to the Antop Hill police, Gupta allegedly introduced himself as ‘Shankar Bhagwan’ and said, "Have you not heard of Shankar Bhagwan? You have no idea what I can do to you. If you want to save your life, come to the Mulund dumping ground with Rs 2 crore."
Police traced the mobile Singh received the call from, and zeroed in on Gupta. He was arrested from his home which is not too far from the dumping ground. On interrogation, he told officers that a tantrik had told him to take the name of any Lord while entering into any deal. So he decided to use the name of Shankar Bhagwan as his own and phoned Singh.
"We are interrogating Gupta further," said senior Inspector Shivram Devkar.
He has been booked under Section 387 (extortion) and remanded in police custody.
Lethargic Karnataka PWD
Union renewable energy minister Farooq Abdullah may have missed the point completely when he applauded Karnataka recently for being a top producer of clean energy. While the state does generate energy from clean sources, it’s good neither at putting that energy to use nor has it made strong efforts to tap the full potentials of its renewable energy sources. 
A mere 20 government buildings in the state capital, for instance, pay nearly Rs. 12 crore in electricity bills annually. All that power is drawn from the grid, produced mostly from non-renewable and ‘dirty’ fossil fuel sources.
The Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Limited (KREDL) had suggested to the Public Works Department over six months ago that these buildings should shift to solar energy. That would save the government some Rs. 3 crore in power bills. But PWD has not moved an inch on the suggestion.
"We conducted an Investment Grade Energy Audit (IGEA) of 20 government buildings in the city, and proposed to the PWD, which owns these buildings, to shift them to solar energy. Nothing has been done yet" KREDL sources told Deccan Chronicle. "Just because the Union Minister was in town, the government has paid lip service to this concept and announced that its buildings will be lit using solar energy.
According to the energy audit report, buildings such as Raj Bhavan, Vidhana Soudha, High Court, City Civil court, Aranya Bhavan, Victoria Hospital, Minto Hospital, V V Tower, KPSC Building, can together save upto 64 lakh kilo watts per year.
"All it takes is will to execute this. Vikas Soudha is already running on solar energy. If the government invests around Rs 10 crore initially, it can recover its costs by saving up on the exorbitant electricity bill it pays," the sources said.
A mere 20 government buildings in the state capital, for instance, pay nearly Rs. 12 crore in electricity bills annually. All that power is drawn from the grid, produced mostly from non-renewable and ‘dirty’ fossil fuel sources.
The Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Limited (KREDL) had suggested to the Public Works Department over six months ago that these buildings should shift to solar energy. That would save the government some Rs. 3 crore in power bills. But PWD has not moved an inch on the suggestion.
"We conducted an Investment Grade Energy Audit (IGEA) of 20 government buildings in the city, and proposed to the PWD, which owns these buildings, to shift them to solar energy. Nothing has been done yet" KREDL sources told Deccan Chronicle. "Just because the Union Minister was in town, the government has paid lip service to this concept and announced that its buildings will be lit using solar energy.
According to the energy audit report, buildings such as Raj Bhavan, Vidhana Soudha, High Court, City Civil court, Aranya Bhavan, Victoria Hospital, Minto Hospital, V V Tower, KPSC Building, can together save upto 64 lakh kilo watts per year.
"All it takes is will to execute this. Vikas Soudha is already running on solar energy. If the government invests around Rs 10 crore initially, it can recover its costs by saving up on the exorbitant electricity bill it pays," the sources said.
98K- Power theft in Karnataka
A whopping 98,601 consumers stole power from utilities and were caught in 2009. In all, they were slapped with a fine of Rs 85 crore, according to official data.
As per statistics available with Express, the trend that is ever spiraling,
saw Rs 24 crore being levied as penalty in 2007, which grew to Rs 36 crore in 2008. In the last ten years, around Rs 224 crore is the fine levied on "power- thieves"- the amount needed to set up a hydel power plant capable of producing 60 MW of electricity.
Ironically, as the state struggles to meet the energy demands, these ‘power-thieves’ have been working quite openly. Their modus, operandi is simple and there’s little or no effort to hide it.
Theft and pilferage account for a substantial part of transmission and distribution (T&D) losses and now with Karnataka gearing up to bring down T&D losses to 15 per cent by 2013, it is imperative that effective ‘anti-theft’ measures are put in place to ensure the efficient use of electricity.
A whopping 98,601 consumers stole power from utilities and were caught in 2009. In all, they were slapped with a fine of Rs 85 crore, according to official data.
As per statistics available with Express, the trend that is ever spiraling,
saw Rs 24 crore being levied as penalty in 2007, which grew to Rs 36 crore in 2008. In the last ten years, around Rs 224 crore is the fine levied on "power- thieves"- the amount needed to set up a hydel power plant capable of producing 60 MW of electricity.Ironically, as the state struggles to meet the energy demands, these ‘power-thieves’ have been working quite openly. Their modus, operandi is simple and there’s little or no effort to hide it.
Theft and pilferage account for a substantial part of transmission and distribution (T&D) losses and now with Karnataka gearing up to bring down T&D losses to 15 per cent by 2013, it is imperative that effective ‘anti-theft’ measures are put in place to ensure the efficient use of electricity.
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