The office of Nepal Communist Party (NCP) at Madan Nagar in Rajbiraj-7, Saptari, has been pilfering electricity for a long time now, according to one of the building’s security personnel.

The building was formerly the party office of the erstwhile CPN-UML. It was later converted into the party office of the NCP following the merger between the CPN-UML and the then CPN (Maoist Centre). Even after the merger, none of the leaders of the now unified party have any qualms about stealing electricity.

“A wire has been hooked to the main line to power the office. It has been this way for a long time now. No one has made any complaint so far,” said one of the security personnel deployed in the building. Six police personnel guard the NCP office building.

“If we speak against the pilferage, our job will be at risk,” said one officer who did not wished to be named. “We have informed the party leaders about what has been going on, but they are not bothered.”

Even the district-based administrators are not paying attention towards the power hooking, he added.

“The then CPN-UML leaders will be responsible for the electricity theft, we are not responsible for it,” said Ashok Kumar Mandal, a member of the NCP. The then district chairman of the UML Govinda Neupane, also a provincial lawmaker, claims he did not know about the power pilferage at the party office.

Chief District Officer Surendra Paudel said he will take stock of the incident.

“Illegal electricity hooking, that to in the presence of police personnel, is a serious matter,” said CDO Paudel, adding that he will take necessary actions immediately.

According to the NEA, its distribution lost 22.90 percent of its total power output in the last fiscal year, most of it because of power theft. The authority is planning to bring down the leakages to 20 percent by the end of this fiscal year.