Agartala, January 14 (TIWN): Smart Meter system will soon be launched in Agartala. Recently, the Government of India had decided to launch this smart meter system in the 14 cities of the country. Among them, Agartala is included in the list of fourteen. This system is adopted to prevent theft of power, measuring the amount of power consumed.

Talking to the Civil Secretariat, Minister Manik Dey informed that by the utilization of the system, the power department can easily recognize the theft of power, the total unit consumed by the household and to prevent the hook line process. The respective system should be directly controlled by power department from the office with the help of DCU meter, through satellite. It is basically a pilot project.

For the first time, the smart system meter should be launched in the electrical sub-division I of Agartala. After that on the basis of the necessity, it should be extended. In the meantime, tenders are called for and two agencies namely WIPRO and Tata Consultancy had applied for the tender which should be filled within few days.

Talking about expenditure, it is known that a total of 24 crore rupees will be invested in the project. The work will be start within upcoming six months and the total work should be completed within 2 years. Recently the theft of power and the use of hook lines become a daily routine. Apart from that large numbers of consumers are not  paying the electricity bill. Since the formation of Tripura State Electricity Corporation Ltd, it is very strict on those stealing or using electricity illegally. Already several complaints have been registered against such offences and penalties too have been imposed in a few cases. More importantly TSECL even came out strongly against domestic and commercial consumers and disconnected illegal users.

Though the action are taken against the default bill payers, CMD of TSECL Shyamal Roy himself  admits  that in some cases strict actions are taken resulting in the cut off the line. But as this is developing day by day, it becomes tougher for the corporation to take every possible step. But measures were taken against those who are using illegal hook lines.