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| JPDCL officials likely to face action for serving Rs 51 lakh bill to poor auto driver | | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Aug 21: Some officials of the Jammu Power Development Corporation Limited (JPDCL) are likely to face action for giving Rs 51 lakh electricity bill to a poor auto driver of Jammu city.
Sources said that senior officers of the JPDCL have taken very senior note of this blunder because this issue has been vociferously taken by various political parties to oppose the installation of smart electricity prepaid meters in Jammu province.
Important to mention here that the non-serious functioning of the Jammu Power Distribution Corporation Limited (JPDCL) was once again exposed after a family living in abject poverty in the heart of the Jammu city received an electricity bill of over Rs 51 lakhs.
This big blunder of the JPDCL provided an opportunity for the opposition parties to pinpoint loopholes in the government’s campaign to install electricity smart meters in the UT to check power theft.
Rajesh Uppal, who is living with his elderly mother Kanta Uppal in the Narayana Mohalla area of Jammu city, is living in a rented accommodation of two rooms.
Rajesh Uppal, the only breadwinner of a four-member poor family, is earning his livelihood by driving an auto in the city.
The poor family has no high electricity-consuming gadgets but they received a bill of Rs 51 lakhs, thanks to the casual approach of the JPDCL authorities.
After officers of the JPDCL have not paid any heed to the problem of the poor family approached the media to highlight their woes.
“Ours is a hand-to-mouth life. We are surviving on the daily income of my son Rajesh who is an auto driver”, Kanta Uppal, head of the family told the media.
“Earlier I used to receive Rs 1000 per month as an aged-old pension but that too has been stopped for the last six months I do not know how we will pay that amount”, she asked.
Kanta Uppal said that she brought this matter to the notice of the higher authorities to stop the harassment. “They admitted that it was an error but no one has rectified it yet”, she said.
The bill, which was issued in the name of Kanta Uppal under the Amnesty Scheme, an amount worth Rs 51,85,325 has been mentioned as arrear. An amount of Rs 11,16,475 is mentioned as an interest which would be “waved off” by the JPDCL authorities provided the poor family will pay the bill before September 30, 2023.
Interestingly, Rs 20,34,425 has been fixed as the first installment by the JPDCL authorities for the poor family. |
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