Unable to curb the menace, the board has come up with a unique proposal to legalise it. A lump-sum would be charged from these local leaders for selling electricity to jhuggi-dwellers. The DVB would offer an additional 15 per cent commission on the revenue they bring in.

DVB spokesman Jagdish Kapoor says: ``The same local `powerful' men who `sub-let' electricity will be made DVB commission agents. A meter would be installed in his house and from there the power line would go to the other houses''.

``We are simply following the adage: If you can't beat them, join them,'' says a DVB official. ``There is no way that this power theft can be curbed. We have raided the jhuggi clusters several hundred times. An hour after the raid, residents hook the main overhead line again.'' Another official says: ``Unemployment in our country is so much that anybody would be keen to become a DVB agent and sell electricity to these jhuggi clusters. This person will ensure there is no pilferage to prevent loss of revenue''.

In the past, the board has experimented with various schemes to earn revenue from stolen power. The scheme for an initial charge of Rs 300 plus Rs 15 per point per month (maximum 2 points) had a good response in the beginning, say DVB officials. However, the money stpped coming and the scheme has to be discontinued. The `powerful men' continued to thrive.

Explains Ayub Khan, a cycle mechanic at the Yamuna Pushta Sanjay Amar jhuggi cluster: ``When I rented a jhuggi here, the landlord told me that I could not tap the wire directly and that I would have to pay one Shamim Bhai for it.'' Shamim Bhai, said Khan, is close to politicians as well as policemen and often helps them with information and manpower for rallies. He also collects money for electricity supply, he added. DVB officials admit that the story is the same everywhere.

``The jhuggi-dwellers are any way paying the local bijli mafia for electricity. The local musclemen do not permit anybody to simply hook the DVB line. They charge money, and then install a line in the jhuggi. It is not only the local musclemen who make money out of this. They pay our DVB field officials. We concede that there is active connivance on the part of DVB officials. Otherwise power theft would be impossible. It is just that now the new chairman is trying to ensure that the money does not go into the pockets of unscrupulous DVB officials or local musclemen. Now the money will come to the government,'' says a DVB official.

Under the new scheme, the local leaders will get a proper DVB receipt for the payment recieved from jhuggi-dwellers. Says Jagdish Kapoor, the DVB spokesman: ``We will give them a single-point line and install an electricity meter. The local leader will take the responsibility of paying the cost as per the electricity meter. He will then charge the residents of his cluster for the power.'' Another official says that the DVB enforcement wing officials and the police cannot maintain a permanent watch at the jhuggis to prevent re-hooking of lines after the raid. ``But the local leaders are always there. Once they are paying for power, they will ensure it is not tapped illegally in their area,'' he adds.