Vadodara: Yet another major scam has surfaced in Dahod district, this time involving large-scale tampering of electricity meters that caused a loss of Rs 14.76 crore to the Madhya Gujarat Vij Company Ltd (MGVCL).The fraud came to light after MGVCL’s vigilance department received inputs about widespread power theft in several parts of the district. Officials carried out raids across Dahod, Devgadh Baria, Zalod, Limdi, Limkheda, and surrounding areas. An offence was registered at the Dahod A Division police station on Tuesday night by MGVCL’s special chief engineer V N Rathwa.During a special drive conducted between Aug and Nov last year, vigilance teams seized 1,609 meters found to be suspicious and sent them for laboratory testing. The analysis revealed that 888 meters had resistors installed inside, using an identical modus operandi to slow down or manipulate readings. Power theft from these connections alone was estimated at Rs 10.71 crore.The investigation further revealed irregularities in the installation of smart meters. Despite not being authorised to do so, Intellismart—the agency awarded the contract through the Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd—had replaced 81 conventional meters with smart meters. Of these, 50 were flagged as suspicious, and laboratory tests showed that 38 had resistors fitted inside them, resulting in power theft of over Rs 4.04 crore.The combined loss from tampered conventional and smart meters was pegged at Rs 14.76 crore.. The FIR names employees of the power distribution company and personnel linked to Intellismart as accused.Dahod district has witnessed a series of scams in recent years, including the fake government office scam, the MNREGA scam, and the fake non-agricultural land conversion order scam, raising serious concerns over systemic irregularities.
