Udupi; Feb 25: Addressing the programme organized by Bharatiya Kissan Sangha in Udupi district Samiti on Feb 25, Tuesday to submit a memorandum objecting the proposed increase in current rate by MESCOM, Satyanarayana Udupa, general secretary said in his address that though company is running at profit as per the balance sheet of the MESCOM due to less leakage of electricity in the state, increase in current rate for customers is unavoidable. Due to the shortage of half of the employees, MESCON even failed in providing quality service by way of involuntary power cuts as per their whims and fancy.
It was further said that MESCOM needs to recover outstanding dues from Government’s local organizations Rs.184 crore, from Mysore paper mills Rs 25.33 crore and state’s other electricity supply companies since 2006 Rs 42.97 crore.Due to non-recovery of these outstanding dues, it could not make the payment of electricity purchased on time, resulting the payment of Rs 96.40 as penalty interest by MESCOM. Anticipating the estimated loss of Rs 196.98 crore for the financial year 2015, MESCOM has submitted a petition in Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission to increase the average cost of 66 paise per unit to all the consumers except MESCOM’s Bhagya-Kutira Jyothi and agricultural pump sets, he said.
Consumer Forum’s Damodhar Aithal, Kissan Sangha president B.V.Poojary Perdur, treasurer Vasudeva Shanbhag, Shreenivasa Bhat, Sadananda Shetty, Shankaranarayana Karantha, Vishwanatha Shetty and among others were present on the occasion.
