If you thought only corruption could have an adverse impact on development, you need to think again. In an Uttar Pradesh district, development activities have been brought to a halt by thieves.
According to reports, thefts of electric wire and water pipes in Sitapur district have left over a hundred villages without power, several without irrigation and scores without telecommunication facilities.
“Thieves have stolen thousands of metres of electric wire throwing a large section of population into complete darkness and rendered a powerhouse useless,” said a district official.
“Whenever an attempt was made to start transmission of power from the powerhouse, the thieves struck again and situation was back to square one,” the official added.
Police suspect mainly the drug addicts steal and sell the copper wires used in the transformers in the market for buying contraband.
Recovery difficult
“It is very difficult to recover the stolen articles as they are quickly sold and re-used elsewhere,” police said.
“Over 40 cases of theft of electric wires from different places in the district have been registered with police so far this year,” said executive engineer Anil Kumar.
The miscreants have also ruffled feathers of the irrigation department.
Pipes stolen
“Hundreds of tubewells have not been functioning as the water pipes have also been stolen,” said S B Singh, an engineer in the irrigation department.
“Irrigation works have come to a complete standstill in many villages,” he said, adding that the farmers were facing a lot of problems as they were not able to irrigate their fields.
The officials said the concerned department registers FIRs with police whenever theft takes place but in most of the cases, the police fail to nab the culprits nor are they able to make any recovery.
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