Fact-Check: News Articles About Power Theft by UP Madrasas Are Misleading!

PVVNL Assistant Engineer Vishal Malik told The Quint that the advisory was not religion-specific.

The articles made a misleading claim that 400 madrasas were found without power connections.

(Source: Altered by The Quint)

Hindi news organisations – Navbharat Times and Live Hindustan – ran a news article about power theft in Uttar Pradesh's Rampur stating that about 400 mosques and madrasas were using electricity without a registered connection.

However this is misleading, and it's not just the numbers but also the selective targeting of one specific religion.

As per a Pashchimanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited (PVVNL)'s assistant engineer Vishal Malik, the advisory was not religion-specific, and was issued to all religious institutions that were found having illegal electricity connection.

Malik shared a document with The Quint, which listed 59 temples and 115 mosques that were advised to get legalised connections within seven days.

Failing registration, the religious places were told that the supply of electricity to their premises would be cut.

CLAIM

The articles claimed that the madrasas and mosques were utilising power illegally, since they did not have registered electricity connections in Uttar Pradesh's Rampur.

(Note: Swipe right to view both claims.)

An archived versionof this article can be seen here.

An archived version of this article can be accessed here.

Other social media posts with the same claim can be seen here and here.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

A keyword search led us to an article published by The Times of India on 25 September. The headline said that 59 temples and 115 mosques were asked to get power connections by the Paschimanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited (PVVNL) in Rampur city.

The headline mentioned 59 temples and 115 mosques.

(Source: The Times of India/Altered by The Quint)

The move came ahead of the festive season, after the power distribution company (discom) found that one of the major reasons for their losses was power theft.

Following this, it sent advisories to over 170 religious places – which includes temples, mosques, and madrasas – in the city, to ensure uninterrupted power supply for everyone.

The advisory mentioned that if the places failed to get a connection within seven days, they would not get electricity supply, as per TOI.

Speaking to The Quint, PVVNL Assistant Engineer Vishal Malik said that the advisory was not issued only to mosques and madrasas.

"The advisory is not religion-specific, it was given to all religious institutions. There are a lot of losses due to electricity theft in Rampur, so the advisory was issued to institutions without legal connections to control that. They were advised to get legal connections within seven days, and were told that their power would get disconnected after that."

Vishal Malik, Assistant Engineer, PVVNL

"As far as I know, power has not been cut for any of the listed institutions so far," Malik said.

He shared a document with the The Quint, with names of the places that had received the notice. It listed 59 temples and 115 mosques or madrasas.

The document had a list of 59 temples.

(Source: Accessed and altered by The Quint)

The document had a list of 115 mosques and madrasas.

(Source: Accessed and altered by The Quint)

Clearly, 174 religious places – 59 temples and 115 mosques – were issued advisories by the power department in UP's Rampur over power theft. The claim that 400 mosques and madrasas were found to be doing so is misleading.

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