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Hundreds of illegal power lines from PDB poles

EAM ASADUZZAMAN, Nilphamari
A section of dishonest power office staff have given hundreds of illegal power connections in remote villages of Domar upazila under the local office of Power Development Board (PDB), posing the risk of accidents.
Due to the situation, pressure on the main power supply lines often causes frequent power cuts while Domar PDB sees systems loss of 30% -35%, which is highest in the region.
As per government rule, power connection can be given up to 33 meters from poles erected by PDB but illegal connections stretching much longer areas are given, PDB sources said.
During a recent visit to command area under Domar PDB, this correspondent found kilometres-long illegal power lines spreading to different directions from the PDB pole at AndarurMore in Domar municipality.
Locals alleged that this malpractice
is random at Chilahati feeder (branch) of Domar PDB.
They said 350-400 households, shops and pumps are given connections from those lines for Tk 5000-Tk 20,000 against each connection with fake commitment to give relevant documents soon.
Electric meters of many illegal clients hang on poles or house walls but their names are not posted in the office register as dishonest PDB employees misappropriate the 'bill' for illegally consumed power.
Dishonest PDB employees snap the rubber insulation of PDB authorised thick metallic wires consisting of seven thin solid copper wires to turn 1500-metre-long heavy copper wire into 10,000-metre-long thin wire and use them for illegal connections with the help of bamboo poles, PDB sources said.
Such illegal power lines pose risk of accidents.
Such an accident on Station Road in
Domar town killed one and injured four on September 25.
Frequent load shedding causes damage to TVs, fridges, bulbs, fans, power pumps, and even PDB transformers.
System loss under Domar PDB is 30% -35%, the highest in the region, while PDB recommended system loss is only 14%.
Asked about the matter, Monoranjan Roy, resident engineer of Domar PDB, admitted existence of many illegal power lines and said, "I informed the higher authorities of the matter and asked repeatedly to transfer lineman concerned of Chilahati feeder Abu Taher to bring back discipline here and reduce systems loss."
Contacted, lineman Abu Taher said, "Those who served at this feeder before me were responsible for giving the illegal connections."
He also claimed that process is on to post clients' names and account numbers in office register.