This decision was taken at a Board meeting chaired by Nalin Bhatt on Tuesday.According to a Board spokesman, the switch gear panels will be purchased to improve general voltage and voltage standards in the sub-stations and at 11 KV feeder lines. He further added that the panels will be placed in 60 feeders which have been bifurcated in different parts of the State. The material will also be sent in to new sub-stations.

The issue of constructing west weir at the Kadana Hydro Power Project was also reviewed and the officers were instructed to expedite the work which was pending for a long time.

Instructions were also issued for completing work of the west weir in Daulatpura. The spokesman said with the completion of the work it would be possible to run the hydro electric project round-the-clock with the support of reversible pump system.

He stated that the Board would not have to bank upon the Irrigation Department for release of more water. The power generation capacity is also expected to be enhanced.

The spokesman said the Government will now release grants instead of loans for electrification of Tribal Area Sub-Plan, Peta Paras in tribal areas and Harijan dominated areas.

He said the Government will pay Rs 60.16 crore for the plan and various schemes. For the electrification of wells and Peta Paras, the GEB will receive Rs 18.90 crore and Rs 37.96 crore for sub-station and transmission lines in the plans for the tribal areas. Nearly Rs 92 lakh will be spent towards upgradation, creation and bifurcation of various sectional and sub-divisional offices in the State.

A decision was taken to upgrade sectional offices at Waghai and Maliya Hatina and bifurcation of Halvad, Thangadh, Khambhalia and Vapi sub-divisions.

Meanwhile, the GEB detected power theft to the tune of Rs 73.58 lakh during surprise raids conducted in various parts of the State between September 7 and 13.

Various kinds of irregularities were detected in 407 cases out of the 8,142 connections checked. Agricultural, industrial and lighting were among the connections checked.