Dependable and accountable. This is to say the least of able and capable Sanjay Bhatia, Managing Director of Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Co. Ltd. and Director of M.S.E.B. Holding Co. Ltd. Bhatia joined I.A.S. in 1985 after completing B.E. (Mechanical) from Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh. At the same time, he also completed post-graduate Diploma in Financial Management from Indira Gandhi Open University. Bhatia worked in various capacities in Central and State Government. Some of the positions previously held by him were, Private Secretary to Union Cabinet Power Minister; Director, Department of Heavy Industries, Government of India. He was also Collector Gadchiroli; Chief Executive Officer, Z.P., Sholapur; Chief Administrator, CIDCO. The previous Secretary of Maharashtra State Electricity Board, Bhatia was doing M.B.A. in Australia just before joining M.S.E.B. Being the kind of man who abhors wastage of any sort, Bhatia is definitely combining his vast experience with education to the optimum. That is why when Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) Union gave their strike notice; Bhatia ensured that there was no power cut. He also ensured that the number of strikers was abysmally low. Even when the utility posted high revenues, Bhatia remained cautious as he thought it was too early to see this as a trend. In the last few months, out of 4,145 connections, which the flying squads inspected, there were 2,754 cases of power theft! More significant, according to the officials, is that the operational and maintenance staff, who were never before involved in detecting theft, are now precisely doing that. Out of 1.25 lakh connections checked in the last two months, they have identified 20,000 cases of theft, mostly involving domestic and small business consumers. About 1,400 of them have been charged under the Electricity Act. Thanks to Bhatia's prompt actions, the miscreants are no longer able to cheat the government as before. The result? Approximately Rs. 140-crore additional revenue was recovered of losses from power thefts! One of the 11 zones covered by the MSEB, which was notorious for power theft, is Latur. Today, it is setting an example to other zones in dealing with power theft. Today, people are joining "recovery processions" being taken out by employees and thousands of cases of theft have been detected. The results are evident in the revenue earned by the Latur zone, which never crossed Rs. 22 crores a month in the past but went up to Rs. 28.5 crores in August. Efforts to reduce theft are working now, thanks to Bhatia's determined efforts to overcome the menace which prevailed for 35 years. The distribution arm of the now unbundled, Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB), was formed in June 2005. It inherited from the parent company MSEB a turnover of Rs. 15,000 crore and a cash deficit of over Rs. 1,000 crore. The current demand-supply gap is 3,500-4,000 megawatts (MW) and the highest demand has been 12,749 MW in (2004-05). The collection efficiency is 90.03 per cent. When Bhatia realised that in the last nine years, there has been no upgradation of power infrastructure, he immediately set out to work. According to him the transmission and distribution losses were at 35.2 per cent (2004-05) and there were cumulative arrears of about Rs 10,000 crore from the customers. To surmount these problems and turnaround the company, he decided on an infrastructure upgradation plan. He is now going to spend over Rs 43.50 crores in the next five years for the modification of electric supply system in the suburbs. After 5 years, no electricity poles will be seen in the suburbs and all cables will go underground. The task of underground cabling has already started in Badlapur. The town will have 20 km underground cables and this alone will cost more than Rs 20 lakhs. This change not only brings introduction of advanced technology for electricity supply but much more. These underground electricity cables will enhance the beauty of the cities and also control the electricity theft upto a great extent. The traffic police too are happy with the MSEB project since the replacement of poles with underground cables will help easy transportation of heavy vehicles. Bhatia has meticulously chalked out a roadmap to ensure Maharashtra becomes a surplus power State within five years. To ensure that the same, he has planned a two-pronged strategy which would have capacity addition on one side and demand supply management on the other. The State has already launched programmes such as the Akshay Prakash Yojana in as many as 80 villages where the villagers manage their power needs. He said single phasing scheme has also been kicked off in about 7,500 villages. Already an investment of Rs 7,500 crore is being utilised for infrastructure and upgradation, which would include replacing older equipment such as transformers and sub-stations. His plans for Pune are that it would be divided into two urban and one rural circle and each circle would have turnkey projects. At the same time, Bhatia is also seeking a loan of about Rs 12,000 crore from Power Finance Corporation Ltd (PFC) and Rural Electrification Corporation Ltd (REC) to upgrade its distribution infrastructure by 2010. Considering the dynamic leadership at the MSEB, MSEDCL should meet a facile addressing from PFC. The restructuring of MSEB is doing the State a lot good and has woken people up. Following its formal trifurcation on June 6, 2005, Bhatia outlined a communication plan to reach out to his 75,000 employees. He appointed 50-70 persons and sent them out to all divisions to speak to the employees and explain what was expected of them. Besides this, Bhatia has already chalked out a 10-point programme to execute the plans to reform MSEDCL. The program includes proactive planning for MSEDCL's distribution network. He believes that in the past, they were doing reactive planning. Only when the need arose, did they set up an electrical sub-station. Today, Bhatia wishes to do capacity building for the power distribution system. Through proactive planning, even feedback from the sub-division level, which is the lowest rung in the hierarchy, would be part of the planning process. Load plans would be created at a sub-division level that will calculate the current loads and make a forecast for the future demand. He will also be making construction work plans, on which the whole capacity building is based. While earlier the planning was at a State level, it would now be done at a sub-division level and planning would be from a macro-level to a micro-level. By recording the increase in the annual growth in the load factor, MSEDCL would use this as a base for micro level planning. Bhatia's next plan of action is to implement SCADA, MIS, e-tendering and e-billing systems. Bhatia has scientific plans for revamping the overall distribution infrastructure that will bring about a high degree of efficiency into the hitherto beleaguered system. While time may change MSEDCL, Bhatia is not waiting. He is taking the right actions at the time he thinks is best--the present. As a man of ability and vision, with the desire to accomplish, there is no doubt that Bhatia can do anything. MSEDCL is now looking forward to its golden years under Bhatia's wise nurture.