SHILLONG, April 5: The Meghalaya Power Distribution Corporation Limited (MePDCL), which is in financial doldrums, has announced that it will conduct “rigorous electricity disconnection drive” against all defaulting consumers in the state starting April 16.
In a statement, the MePDCL said, “A general notice as per the relevant provisions of the MSERC (Electricity Supply Code) Regulations, 2018, is hereby issued to all the defaulting consumers informing that with effect from April 16, the MePDCL shall commence rigorous electricity disconnection drive under section 56 of the Electricity Act, 2003, against all defaulting consumers not enrolled/opted for this scheme (MePDCL One Time Settlement Scheme, 2020) including consumers who opted the scheme but failed to comply with the terms of the scheme.”
In November, 2020, the corporation had announced the ‘MePDCL One Time Settlement Scheme, 2020′ for all categories of defaulting consumers (including permanently disconnected consumers) to recover their long outstanding dues of electricity bills as of March 31, 2020.
In the statement, the MePDCL also mentioned that prosecution proceedings will be taken against permanently disconnected consumers who have failed to settle their dues under the scheme.
Reportedly, the scheme which was valid until March 31, 2021, offered a waiver of 100 per cent of delay payment charges or 30 per cent of total outstanding dues, whichever was more beneficial to the consumer.
It may be mentioned that several instances of power theft cases were exposed by the MePDCL during a recent raid at the industrial areas of Byrnihat.
MeECL revenue up
In view of several reforms in the past six months, the revenue of the Meghalaya Energy Corporation Limited (MeECL) for 2020-2021 has gone up by 6.05 per cent compared to the previous fiscal year. The CMD of MeECL, Arunkumar Kembhavi, through the official twitter account of the MeECL, informed that the bill collection for the month of March 2021 has touched Rs 102.88 crore, making it the highest ever collection in the history of the public sector undertaking.
The CMD also congratulated the field officers and staff for their efforts in the achievement.
Workers’ appreciation
Besides this, there was yet another positive for the MeECL.
The Meghalaya Power Workers’ Union (MPWU) has appreciated the management for paying the two months’ salary on time, and on being assured that the salaries will be disbursed within the first week of the month.
“The MPWU expresses its appreciation to the management under the chairmanship of Chairman-cum-Managing Director, MeECL, Arunkumar Kembhavi, who has assured that payment of employees’ salaries will be paid within the first month and for the last two months salary has been paid in time,” Union president, D Sumer, said in a letter to the CMD.
The Union hopes that the present precedent will continue and the cause of the employees will be treated as top priority, Sumer said.
Meanwhile, the MPWU also pointed out the demand of the members, especially from the low grade income employees, for relief and easing out of their financial burden.
“The management may kindly release the remaining balance arrears accrued from ROP 2015 (45%), arrear on electricity allowance and arrears on dearness allowance,” it said.
The Union has extended its cooperation and support to the management in improving and making the functioning of the MeECL better.
