‘Urjagiri’, a special campaign to prevent line loss and power thefts in Uttarakhand got started on the 150th birth anniversary for father of nation Mahatma Gandhi on Wednesday. Initiating the campaign at his residence, the Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said that the efforts for preventing power thefts should be intensified.

He said that the distribution losses have been curtailed to 14.32 percent from 29.52 at the time of creation of the state. Rawat said that these losses should now be brought down to 13 percent.

Reiterating the commitment of his government to prevent power losses, he said that it is the duty of employees and officers of power corporations to prevent these losses so that the honest users are not overloaded with tariffs. The CM also directed that the vigilance cell of the UPCL should be strengthened to prevent power losses.

He said that the every officer of the power corporation right from the Chief engineer to the additional engineer should be given a monthly target to check the power connections.

The CM added that Uttarakhand is at second place in the country after Gujarat in the list of minimising line and transmission losses.

The secretary power Radhika Jha said that the Urjagiri should become a way of life on the lines of Gandhigiri.

She said that the regular raids are being conducted to apprehend the power thieves. Jha said that the

old mechanical meters are being replaced by the electronic meters and in the areas where chances of theft are high; the LT AB cables are being laid.

The mayor of Dehradun Sunil Uniyal Gama, MLA Harbans Kapoor and others were present on the occasion.