PDD, consumers fighting now in Bijli Adalats

Tahir Mushtaq

JAMMU, Nov 26: With number of disputes arising between consumers and Power Development Department (PDD) after the installation of  e-meters, people are dragging the cases in the Bijli Adalats, constituted by the government.

Officials said that number of disputes particularly related to power bills and service has arisen in recent past, many of the complaints have been received by these special Adalats.

Talking to TNI Superintendent Engineer, Jammu Gurbachan Singh said the department has organises Adalat every two months and 4 such special courts has been conducted from last eight months wherein 25 cases has been entertained.

He said that the department has cleared 7 cases whereas the remaining cases were wave off for interest. “Most of the cases come from city area as much of the people are not aware about this” said Singh.

He further said that the department is planning conduct in rural areas as we haven’t got any response due to the unawareness of this facility.

Singh disclosed that before the due date of the adalat the department issued a notification in the local dailies regarding the venue and date of the conducting of adalat adding that the consumer have to file the application before the date as department have to clear all the requirements and formalities earlier to that.

“The consumers who have not been able to cleat their liabilities because of pending disputes, meter reading or the calculation of surcharge would file an application in these adalats, he maintained.

Official sources said till the people are not aware about the scheme there is no benefit to launch it.

Sources further said that the department should organized awareness camps or conducting these adalats in the rural and other far flung areas so that more people get benefited for this scheme.

Demand for electricity is increasing each passing year, while the revenue realisation is not showing much improvement, putting much of the burden on government to buy power from Northern Grid. It affects other sectors, as funds are diverted to meet the requirements.

A cursory look at the past figures reveals that the power import has drastically increased during recent years. It was around Rs 1500 crore for 2006-07, Rs 2000 crore for 2008-09, Rs 2,560 crore for 2009-10, and the purchases had shot up to Rs 2,767.04 for 2010-11. By the end of this fiscal it is expected to cross Rs 3300 crore mark.