AGRA: The amnesty programme of the UP government against power thieves ends on June 15. The state administration has decided that anyone caught stealing electricity after that will face a jail term of up to five years. If caught for the second time, one will go to jail for 10 years.UP has been struggling with the bane of power thefts for decades now, with successive governments failing to do anything about 'kundi' connections and other blatant pilferage, sometimes of entire transformers and electricity poles. Having come to the conclusion that it has had enough of it, the Yogi Adityanath government has decided to take stringent steps to curb pilferage.The government has also decided to set up "anti-power theft police stations" in every district soon. Moreover, defaulters, too, will be arrested and asked to pay up to six times the pending dues while those using more than 10KW sanctioned load will face imprisonment of up to five years. Such consumers will be debarred from using electricity for up to two years.According to an internal assessment report on Aggregate Technical and Commercial (AT&C) losses till December 2016, prepared by the UP Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL), of the total power supplied almost 31% of power was pilfered last year.Out of every five electricity consumers in Etawah, the home district of SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav , only one pays electricity bills. The situation is almost similar in Kannauj, parliamentary constituency of SP president Akhilesh Yadav ’s wife, Dimple. Parliamentary constituency and home district of UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath, Gorakhpur, too has a high rate of power theft . In fact, in Kauriram division of Gorakhpur, power pilferage is to the tune of over 80%, the report said.NC Agarwal, director (personnel), Dakshinanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited, said, “Once the government’s scheme ends, we will launch a massive drive against power thieves. Earlier, we used to pardon the offender after imposing heavy penalties on them. But now, an FIR will be lodged and the offender will be sent to jail.”Power department had started the Special Amnesty for Responsible Voluntary Declaration Abhiyan (SARVDA) on April 15 for domestic consumers in rural and urban areas. It was an amnesty scheme for self-declaration and regularizing of `katia' (illegal) connections, load extensions, etc. The effort was meant to curb power theft and regularize illegal consumption of electricity.