MARGAO: What was feared all along by power consumers over the inordinate delay by the electricity department in issuing meter bills has come true. Hundreds of consumers, especially in the Cuncolim power sub-division, have received the shock of their lives after they received hefty bills from the electricity department running into thousands of rupees for no fault of theirs.
A power consumer from Sirlim in Dramapur village, Tereza Pereira received a bill of Rs 36,660 for a period of three months, from May to August. Tereza’s household had never received a power bill exceeding Rs 1000, raising eyebrows over the bill issued by the power department. Tereza is not the only power consumer hit by the hefty bills. Wilson Viegas, a resident of Sirlim, also received a bill of Rs 8351 for the same period. Herald inquiries have only revealed that hundreds of power consumers, especially in the villages of Assolna, Cuncolim, Chinchinim, Sirlim, all within the jurisdiction of Cuncolim sub-division have met a similar fate. In fact, there is a complaints galore over the bills with senior power officials admitting that the bills were prepared with some errors. Executive Engineer, Santosh Lolienkar said there were some discrepancies in the data handed over to GEL in the preparing of the bills. “We had rectified the errors when it came to our notice, but somehow, the bills were prepared without making the changes,” Lolienkar added.
While making an appeal to the power consumers to immediately contact the electricity office with a copy of the bill, Lolienkar has issued instructions to the sub-ordinate staff to rectify the errors and give relief to the consumers. “Since it consumes some time, instructions have been given to our staff to seek the mobile number and address of the power consumers, who will be intimated by the officials once the rectification is done,” he said.
Herald had last month highlighted the plight of the power consumers from many parts of Salcete who had not received their power bills for four months and more. Power consumers from Raia even gheraoed the power officials to demand issuance of bills on a monthly basis.
