NAINITAL: Once a power surplus state, Uttarakhand has suffered a line loss of more than 18% costing over Rs 22 Crore in financial year 2016-17, revealed an RTI by Haldwani-based activist Gurvinder Singh Chadha, a Haldwani-based RTI activist said, “We were known as a power surplus state once and now many parts of the state are in the dark due to power deficit. This deficit is a result of mismanagement by the department’s responsible and lack of vigilance to stop power theft.”Line loss amounts to waste or theft of power against amount of electricity produced and transmitted to consumers across the state.Similarly, the state suffered more than 18% line losses recorded in 2014-15 and it is the reason behind power shortage in the state. In 2010-11, a total of 21.61% line loss was recorded, followed by 19.61% in 2011-12, 20.5% in 2012-13, 19.18% in 2013-14.Maximum line loss took place in Uttarkashi district with 36.68% followed by Roorkee (Urban) with 36.42%, Vikasnagar area of Dehradun with 33.45% and Tehri (30%). The lowest line loss was reported in Haridwar with 4.40%.While aforementioned amounts of power generated going waste, pockets of the hill state still grapple with the availability of electricity. Hundreds of villages still live without electricity in the hill districts of the state. Of the 13 districts, nine are considered to be in the highly hilly terrains. The data indicates that no concrete efforts seem to be in place to prevent the waste of already scarce resource.The main reason behind the loss is stealing of power from low tension lines and other vulnerable spots. People sometimes provide connections from their home illegally in exchange of money.Installation of insulated areal bunch conductors could help stop power thefts and squads can also be deployed in various areas to check illegal connections on a regular basis.According to records of Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited, there are more than two lakh registered consumers in three towns of Nainital, Ramnagar and Haldwani.Officials said that strict measures will be taken against those indulging in power theft. H K Gururani, chief engineer, Kumaon zone said, “Total 363 FIRs have been registered against those indulging in power theft. We are also identifying the connections which are using more power than permitted. Keeping check on unauthorized use illegally which will help curbing the theft.”