Diesel pilferage a concern: TAIPA

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, May 17

The tower and infrastructure providers not only in the state, but also across the country are facing an acute problem of pilferage of diesel from mobile towers. Ironically, the technicians deputed at these mobile towers are part of the diesel mafia. These technicians get united and started blackmailing the tower and infrastructure providers when action is taken against the offenders, said TR Dua, director general of Towers and Infrastructure Providers Association (TAIPA).

Dua was in the city to hold a meeting with representatives of companies involved in providing towers infrastructure to the telecom companies.

He said though various measures had been taken to curtail the diesel pilferage, such installation of batteries, renewable energy systems, but the problem remains the same. Alarms and monitoring system has been in place but due to involvement of technicians, the pilferage of diesel continues to be the biggest hurdle. “We have to keep the stock of diesel in order to ensure continuous power supply for the mobile tower operations,” he said.