Villagers in Karnataka refuse to pay bill, cite free electricity promise

BENGALURU: Bescom meter-readers who hand out bills are being chased away in some pockets of Karnataka because of Congress's major poll promise of giving 200 units of free power to all households a month if it came to power. This comes after party strongman DK Shivakumar's pre-poll call to voters to not pay power bills from June 1.
A Bescom employee faced the ire of villagers in Chitradurga where he had gone to read the electricity meter and collect arrears.A video of the people arguing with him and forcing him out went viral on Monday.
The incident was reported from Jaalikatte in Chitradurga district, which comes under Bescom.
With Congress winning a majority in the elections, bill collectors are having a tough time. "Our meter readers visit every household during the first two weeks of the month to log readings and hand over bills. But in Jaalikatte, villagers not only stopped the reader from entering the houses but refused to pay," said a Bescom executive engineer.
In the now-viral video, villagers were seen asking the meter reader: "Congress has won a majority and will soon implement all guarantees, including free electricity. Why are you coming to the village and handing us the bills?" Though the meter reader was seen convincing the villagers that it will be effective only after a formal government order, they got into a verbal argument.
Denying meter-readers were manhandled, Bescom director (technical) Ramesh said villagers refused to let the meter-reader into their houses.
Officials said such arguments are bound to rise. An edited version of DK Shivakumar's speech, where he is telling people Congress would come to power and everyone can stop paying electricity bills from June 1, was widely consumed on social media.
The Gruha Jyothi scheme has come under the scanner for financial implications too. While Congress claimed the scheme will cost Rs 7,000 crore a year, the burden is more than the estimate, according to MG Prabhakar, chairman of FKCCI energy committee.
The expert said there are 1.9 crore households in the state and if 200 units are given free per month, the consumption will be 3,845 million units a month. When calculated at Rs 8.75 per unit, the monthly cost would add to Rs 3,367 crore and, annually, it would add to Rs 44,404 crore, an official said. "If half the households were to get free power, the amount required would be around Rs 20,000 crore a year," he added.