Margao: PWD minister and local MLA Digambar Kamat on Friday met electricity department superintending engineer Rajiv Samant along with aggrieved residents, terming penalties imposed on consumers as “unfair” and assured them that the issue would be raised with the chief minister.
He told consumers not to pay the penalties until the government takes a formal decision on the matter.
Residents complained of steep fines for increased power load, which Kamat said was detected through meter readings but was never regularised by the department over the years. Holding the electricity department responsible, the PWD minister said it was its duty to conduct periodic inspections and guide consumers accordingly.
“The department should inspect all installations once in five years, check for increased load, and advise consumers to get it regularised. Increase in load is a healthy sign of prosperity in society,” he said. “Instead, they have simply penalised consumers.”
Kamat spoke to chief minister Pramod Sawant over phone in the midst of the meeting. Sawant, he said, assured him of taking a decision over the issue within the next two days. The consumers demanded that the penalties be waived and that they be given adequate time to apply for load regularisation, Kamat told reporters. They also objected to the installation of smart meters, he said.
Kamat said he already spoke to the chief engineer earlier in the day, cautioning him against projecting high penalty revenues to impress the government. “Government should not earn revenue at the cost of the common man. The department has not taken the interest of consumers into consideration while levying these penalties. I am sure the CM won’t agree to this,” he said.
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