Harya tyre repairer gets a Rs 77-crore power bill shock

Chandigarh, November 15: An owner of a small tyre repair shop in Harya’s Faridabad town was handed over an electricity bill of over Rs.77 crore, leaving him utterly “shocked”. The owner of Surinder Auto Works in Faridabad town, adjoining New Delhi, said that he and his family were “shocked” to see the bill and the amount of over Rs.77.89 crore mentioned in it. “I run a shop from a rented premises where I repair punctured tyres. My bill has always been Rs.2,000-2,500. I only have a fan and a bulb working here. I have cleared all my earlier bills. This one came as a shocker,” said the shopkeeper, whose premises is in Adarsh gar colony. Neighbours said that the shopkeeper’s mother had to be taken to a doctor as she felt unwell after hearing about the huge bill. The bill, dated October 31, was issued by the Dakshin Harya Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN). This is not the first instance in Harya that a consumer has been given a big bill. A pan-seller (betel-leaf seller) in Harya’s Goha town in Sonipat district got a bill of Rs.132 crore in October last year. Earlier, an electricity consumer in Harya’s rul town got a bill of Rs.234 crore in April 2007. Officials of the concerned power utilities blamed the bills on technical and computer glitches. (IANS)