Bettiah: Thieves allegedly stole around 13km of 11 kV high-tension power lines from two agricultural feeders in West Champaran, disrupting electricity supply to farmlands and affecting paddy transplantation during the peak irrigation season.The electricity department on Friday lodged an FIR with Majhaulia police against unidentified people after a departmental inspection confirmed the theft.Junior electrical engineer Ratan Kumar Jha said villagers alerted the department on June 27 after noticing the missing power lines. Around 7.5km of conductor wire was stolen from the Chanayanbandh feeder, while another 5.7km was taken from the Bisambharpur feeder.The department estimated the value of the stolen conductor at nearly Rs 4 lakh with the total loss to the North Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited (NBPDCL) pegged at about Rs 5 lakh. The theft has left agricultural feeders without power, forcing farmers to depend on costly diesel pumps for irrigation.Farmer Avadhesh Patel said, “The paddy transplanting season is currently in full swing. Before the power disruption, farmers were irrigating their fields and transplanting paddy during the morning and evening hours.”He warned that unless electricity is restored quickly, cultivation costs would rise sharply and paddy transplantation would face further delays.
Villagers noticed the theft on June 27
