India, April 12 -- A surge in transformer thefts across Punjab State Power Corporation Limited's (PSPCL) Ludhiana circles has significantly disrupted power supply, with officials attributing the rise to an organised scrap network targeting critical infrastructure components.

The incidents, which have escalated over recent months, are no longer being treated as isolated acts of pilferage.

Senior PSPCL functionaries say the pattern points to a coordinated racket extracting copper windings, coils and other high-value fittings from transformers, rendering them unserviceable and triggering sudden outages across residential, rural and industrial areas.

According to internal PSPCL data, 1,885 transformers had been rendered defunct due to thef...