Resubelpara, June 27: Many parts of Bajengdoba area, close to the border with Assam as well as nearby Rari have been without electricity for over a month after the transformers that supplied power to these places went kaput with the department refusing to restore connection until at least 60% of the overdue bills were paid.
The current situation has also brought to light the poor bill collection scenario where entire villages are punished for the fault of just non-paying consumers.
As per reports, the village of Kosi Chora under Bajengdoba has a total outstanding due of over Rs 30 lakhs while Rari has an outstanding of just over Rs 11 lakhs. The villagers have been asked to cough up Rs 18 lakhs and a little over Rs 6 lakhs in these two places respectively.
“There are just a few families who have huge pending bills for whom the entire village has to suffer. Some of them have bills over Rs 1 lakh and the department has been punishing us for them not paying. How do we deserve to be punished when we have been paying regularly?” asked a resident of Kosi Chora.
In Rari, locals said that at least seven families have the bulk of what is due, some of them having dues of over Rs 70,000. Villagers for now have already pooled in over Rs 3 lakhs and submitted it to the MeECL office. However, until the 7-8 families pool in their bit, the situation is not likely to change.
Many villagers were unhappy with the system of billing and delivery of bills. They felt that if bills are overdue by more than 2-3 months, the consumer who has not paid should be acted on and the line disconnected.
“If someone has not paid, disconnect their lines after serving them notice. How will people all of a sudden be able to pay Rs 18 lakhs to the department? Seriously, what were they doing all this time? Do they have to wait until the situation becomes untenable for us all,” asked another resident of Rari.
The situation in Rari and Bajengdoba is not unique. There have been a number of reports of similar actions being undertaken by the department in all parts of Garo Hills. The department continues to bide time hoping for a transformer to go kaput before they literally arm twist villagers to cough up huge sums of money. Billing and collection, upon which any form of utility company is based is mandated on the company itself. However, the lack of manpower to even deliver bills has actually led to a situation in which many have to suffer because of the negligence of a few.
“Is it right for the paying consumer to be punished this way for the company’s own incompetence? The authorities in charge of MeECL need a serious rethink as I don’t think their disconnecting our line will stand in Court,” stated another resident of Bajengdoba.