RESUBELPARA, July 21: The villages of Rari and Bajengdoba have continued to suffer in the sweltering heat after the MeECL has continued to deny service to paying customers due to non-paying ones after the transformers in these places went kaput more than two months ago.
What is even more interesting is the fact that two more villages, viz. Dingrepa and Matchu Ki have joined the list of those villages being denied power over pending bills of customers.
Earlier, as was reported, Rari and Kosi Chora in Bajengdoba in North Garo Hills had huge pending bills for the two villages. While Rari had a bill of over Rs 8.5 lakhs, Kosi had pending bills in excess of Rs 30 lakhs.
It has been seen in recent times that the MeECL has resorted to coercion to collect bills by a blanket denial of electricity to the entire village if their transformer develops a malfunction.
At least 60 per cent of the bills are asked to be cleared before a new transformer is provided or the earlier one repaired.
The question that has now been raised by villagers is whether the MeECL has any legal right to deny electricity to customers who have been paying bills regularly just because the department has allowed the accumulation of huge pending bills mainly from defaulters.
“In most cases, it is only about 10-15 households who have huge pending bills. Instead of cutting their electric supply it seems the department feels it has the right to deny electricity to those that have paid,” asked a resident of Kosi.
As per locals, partial payments of their bills were made to the MeECL, with about Rs 3.5 lakh paid by consumers in Rari.
However, what is thought-provoking is the fact that the bill was adjusted for all consumers despite the major defaulters making no payment.
The MeECL, however, could not be contacted for comment.
