Multi-stakeholder perspective of the documentary "Katiyabaaz' in electricity deficit of Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh

As part of the course 'Engineering, economics and regulation for energy access in developing countries' at MIT, we were recommended to watch a documentary titled 'Katiyabaaz' by our course instructor Prof. Ignacio. Having spent most of my growing up years in urban or 'Lutyens' Delhi, the term Katiyabaaz didn't ring a bell! However, I was intrigued by the documentary, especially since it did not seem to have a detailed review online, yet had won many awards at the time of its launch in 2014. I requested the very kind TA (SL) of the course to let me borrow the DVD and on a bright sunny afternoon, booked a desktop in Hayden Library, playing the DVD. SL and I had tried capturing the gist earlier during the recitation class, however, the documentary's far too many dimensions got lost during our selective scan.

The documentary began with a scene that is typical to a semi-urban Indian landscape, spatially, and with regard to other physical and social settings. The statistics cited that out of 150 million people without electricity in the world, 40 million were in India: 3 million living in the city of Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. The city also has been one of the largest industrial centers of the country, yet out of a population of 2.7 million in need of electricity connection, the local distribution company KESCO could provide connections to only 0.5 million people. Kanpur also has been among the 10 most polluted cities in the world. The documentary showcased the interplay of the many stakeholders around the problem of availability of electricity to end users.

The various stakeholders that I identified are the following:

1. KESCO
2. MD, KESCO
3. MDs family/ children
4. KESCO employees
5. Patrol team
6. Linemen
7. MLA - Irfan Solanki
8. Local police
9. Various political parties that campaign during 2012 elections - Congress, BSP etc. (Rahul Gandhi, Mayawati)
10. PM of India
11. Consumers
12. Fined electricity consumers
13. Bill defaulters
14. Loha Singh - Katiyabaaz
15. Loha Singh's family
16. Loha Singh's supporters
17. Loha Singh's relatives
18. Poor population - daily wagers (Rakesh)
19. Large businesses
20. Business that shut shop
21. Small businessmen
22. Shopkeepers
23. Women - crying, praying to god for electricity
24. Little children - on road at night due to lack of electricity 
25. Other sleepless population due to lack of electricity 
26. Old people
27. Muslim family - Ramadan
28. Young girls and boys who learn katiya

Context

The backdrop of severe electricity shortage in the city of Kanpur gave rise to Katiya - meaning plugging in wires in the existing connections to get electricity illegally. The person who at the cost of his life did Katiya - fueled by a vicious social pressure rather than monetary incentive was called Katiyabaaz, played by Loha Singh that translated to Iron man - a locally stylized yet strong youth who decided to stand up for the society that promoted his profession.

Measures for curbing losses

When the MD - Ritu Maheshwari, played by a real-life IAS officer took over KESCO, she gave bold orders to deal with mass electricity theft to recover part of the Rs. 2 billion losses. Immediate steps included identification of locations of theft, FIRs and penalties for stealing electricity, vigorous campaigns in areas with maximum transmission losses including raids and early morning patrols as katiya was done during late night and removed in the mornings: this was to to basically ensure that carelessness in revenue collection and lapse in customer service was not tolerated. The MD took the stand that electricity could not be provided free of cost, and theft was done by both the poor and rich. With huge losses to the department, the government was unable to pay for the electricity produce. Some of  the other consumer-centered steps taken by her were: establishing a call center for quick repairs and electricity restoration, having 'town hall' meetings with consumers and stakeholders, facilitating electronic bill payments, sending mobile alerts to registered numbers for power cuts, among few others. This was to improve the credibility of KESCO, which had the reputation of cheating and robbing consumers, who ultimately relied on 'god' for provision of reliable electricity. These steps also built a sense of ownership in employees, improving the inter-personal relationship between the consumers and KESCO.

Adversities 

However, the above steps remained short-lived! When temperature soared to 47'C during summers, people returned to stealing power fearlessly and more aggressively. They blamed the MD for making them suffer, as power cuts exceeded the promised time limits. Stakeholders questioned, verbally attacked and threatened the MD, and infrastructure is observed to be crumbling due to overloading. The employees and linemen of KESCO are manhandled as consumers believed that power cuts were due to lack of electricity generation, with KESCO lacking the ability to provide power as promised in the first place. This leads to a law and order situation, as people take to the streets with anti-government slogans, burning effigies of the MD. The documentary also captured the divide between the local politician, with a populist stance and the MD, who stood like a rock to act on her principles. 

The reaction and assessment of various stakeholders is done in the matrix below:    

Conclusion and way forward      

The end of the documentary is predictable as the MD is transferred to a central government posting within a year. She made a statement that if she took bold steps, 'she would be gone', hence she must take steps that are doable or incremental in nature. Her incremental actions reduce the losses of KESCO by 30%. As a women, she is shown balancing her professional and personal life with two very young children.   

Ritu Maheshwari's story was covered as an inspiration for spearheading several other power system initiatives in the country. From her message, I wonder, what is the right time for a civil servant to take the bold steps - which stakeholder among the above could be relied for support at a time when the government's tendency is to be risk-averse in the short-term?