Vasai : In the rest of the country there is theft of power but in Vasai, entire transformers are being stolen. In the latest incident, the transformer of an industrial estate in Waliv (Vasai) was stolen early morning on September 1. Earlier, there was such a theft in Virar east.
K T Spark industrial building, where the theft took place, has 34 galas out of which 30 galas were occupied. Some workers were on night shift and some were sleeping in their respective galas. The thieves locked their doors with wires. Anway, since unscheduled load shedding is common in Vasai taluka, the workers thought that power supply would be restored in an hour.
They learnt about the theft only when the watchman alerted the gala owners about the missing transformer. The thieves had broken the wall around the transformer, removed all the nut-bolts and fled with the interior of the transformer.
Setting up a new transformer will cost Rs 5 lakhs. A disappointed gala owner, Kishorbhai, said, “We are facing huge losses due to this as workers will still have to be paid wages.”
Another owner, Madan Rajpurohit, said, “The thieves might have struck between 3am to 5 am. This has to be a gang of not less than 10 people as the work done is meticulous. They locked all the galas from outside with wires and carefully removed the required stuff and only kept the skeleton of transformer. ”
An FIR has been registered against unknown persons under sections 319 and 334 of the IPC for stealing transformer coil and oil. Newly appointed Palghar SP Suvez Haque said, “We are monitoring the situation and will take a call later and increase the night patrolling if required.”
