He was delivering the presidential address at a seminar on ``New perspectives in power transmission with independent power projects'' held here on Monday. He said India had the dubious distinction of being the country with highest percentage of power loss and theft which amounted to more than 50 per cent in some states.

The seminar revealed that the country lost about US $ 108 billion last year due to power loss during transmission and power thefts.

Long transmission lines and long distances between the place where power is generated and where it has to reach finally had resulted in a loss of 60 billion units of power in the country. The national average of power transmission loss at 23 per cent is high compared to 7 per cent loss abroad.

Ramanna lamented over the inefficient and arrogantattitude of electricity board and telephone department officials. The time has come to wake up and liberalise these sectors further to improve efficiency and service.

``Politicians ignore the power thefts in their constituency because they say that any action would affect their votes. Scientists have to produce power for politicians to get votes,'' he said.

In a lighter vein, he said he could say this and get away because he had reached a stage where there were no bosses over him. Maintenance, be it of roads, power lines, or telephone system, was the weakest in the country, he said. He recalled how Lt Generals and other senior officials used an axe to free him when he got stuck in a lift in a building in Bombay, when he was the union minister for defence. The problem needs urgent study and remedies, said Dr S Rajashekharaiah, vice chancellor of Visvesvaraiah Technological University, Belgaum, while inaugurating the seminar.