Kollam: Irked by the frequent power outages in the region, a ward member tried to turn up the heat on the staff of Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB), by paying the electricity bills of nine households, approximately Rs 10,000, in coins.
Local BJP leader and Randalam Moodu ward member of Talavur Grama panchayat in Kollam C Renjith gave the ‘counting lessons’ to stunned KSEB officials. He warned them that he would pay the bills of the entire households in the ward in coins if the Board failed to come out with a solution to the frequent power disruptions, sometimes over 20 times a day.
The incident happened at the KSEB Pattazhy section office on Monday, the last date to pay bills before officials cut the power supply of defaulting households. Renjith arrived at the KSEB office with the electricity bills of nine households and remitted the amount in coins. Nearly Rs 10,000 was paid in separate covers. Soon, all staff of the section office assembled and began counting the heap of coins lying before them.
“What we experience are not scheduled power cuts. On some days, we encounter over 20 power outages…there will be electricity for five minutes and then it goes off for the next 15 minutes. Sometimes, there will be electricity for one hour and then the power will go off for the next five minutes. Electronic devices in many households were damaged because of this. This pathetic situation has been prevailing here for some time now. We’ve lodged numerous complaints with the panchayat commission and other bodies. They cite that the presence of many trees in the region is resulting in frequent electricity disruptions, but fail to initiate timely measures including cutting off the tree branches leaning on electric wires,” Renjith told Manorama Online.
“There were coins of Rs 1, 2, 5 and 10. Bill amounts were collected from the houses and exchanged for coins from a temple," Ranjith said adding that protests should only trouble the authorities concerned and not the public. "We don't have to trouble the public. If it is a problem in the panchayat, then only that department should be targeted. If the protest is on the road, people will be inconvenienced.
"When I game them coins, the employees looked as though a wasp had stung them. They can't refuse or reject legal tender. I went in the afternoon, and they sat till 5 pm to finish counting," Ranjith said.
