East Khasi Hills residents oppose power tariff hike

FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT

SHILLONG, May 1: The residents of Rangshken village under Sohiong constituency in East Khasi Hills district have opposed the sudden hike in the electricity tariff since November 2015.

According to the villagers, earlier the usual bill amount used to range from Rs 300 to Rs 700.

The sudden hike in power bills has hit many of the BPL families and some have even sold their livestock to pay the bills. The villagers informed that in certain houses in the village there are only three bulbs but they too received bills amounting to more than Rs 2,000. Following the exorbitant hike in their power bills, some of the traditiol heads met the officials of the MeECL who could not do much.

Six headmen of the area falling under Sohiong, met an engineer who was in charge of the Sohiong area, at Lumjingshai office of the MeECL, Shillong and he told them that this is because of the loan of the electricity that they have consumed all along.

The villagers are however ignorant of taking any such “electricity loans” since they claimed that they have never erred on their payments.

The headman of Rangshken alleged that the persons responsible for reading the electricity meters and billing never visit the houses and “presume” it.

Meanwhile, the Civil Society Women Organisation (CSWO) president Agnes Kharshiing said that the public are not aware of readings and the MePDCL should clarify to the consumers.

The CSWO had urged that the MeECL to immediately take note and not take advantage of the consumers for faults of the office.

The CSWO also demanded to know why such anomalies are glaring.

Kharshiing also alleged that the MeECL is not installing meter readers causing inconvenience to the consumers.