Bandipore, May 31: Resentment prevails among local residents here in Bandipora against the Power development Department over inflated power bills received by them for domestic connections.
 PDD division Bandipora has sent power bills running into several thousand to residents living in different villages including Aythmullah,Karlpora, Dachigam and Nowpora,said locals.
 Ghulam Ahmed of the Aythmulla locality here said that there had been an average increase of Rs 1000 per month in each bill.
 Lone (Consumer ID 0213040001183) has been given a bill of Rs 30,000 while another Resident Muhammad Khaleel Lone  (C.ID 0213040001185) a resident has been handed over a bill of Rs 22,000
 Deputy Commissioners Office In Bandipora is now flooded with complaints of wrong bills and the employees are busy correcting the same, say Ghulam Muhammad Mir a Magistrate in DC office Control room.
 Sources said hundreds of residents had been issued wrong bills. During the last billing cycle also a large number of villagers were given wrong bills, who on Monday staged protests against the PDD officials demanding action against the erring engineers who are issuing inflated bills to consumers.
 Ghulam Mahudin Shah A resident of Kehnusa village (C.ID number 0213040009706 got the shock of his life when he received a bill of more than Rs 3.98 lakh. The bill showed that he used 91,186 units of power in two months. Before this his average bill used to between Rs 1,400 and Rs 1,500. If he does not deposit the bill by the due date, he would have to pay fine as per norms.
 “When I approached the concerned engineer, I was forcibly thrown out of the office after which I approached the DC’s control room,” Shah said. 
 Manzoor Ahmed Mir (No 0213040001943) is wondering how the PDD could send him a bill of Rs 21000. He is sure he never used even 200 units of power in the past two months. Till now he had been depositing Rs 400 to Rs 800. Similarly, Khazir Muhammad of Turkpora has been handed a bill of Rs 2,200 for using 400 units.
 Residents alleged that complaints of wrong bills had started after the department delegated meter reading to illiterate linemen. Further, the handling of computer in the office by an electrical engineer aggravates to the problem.
 It is being alleged that in a large number of cases, employees of PDD never went for meter reading and instead entered the reading as they liked. An engineer requesting anonymity alleged a few Junior Engineers in connivance with the Assistant Engineer were preparing the bills without going trough the proper procedure of meter reading.
 When contacted, the Executive Engineer, Bashir Ahmad Wani, said it may be because of computer errors and all the bills were being corrected. He, however, refuted charges that employees of PDD were skipping meter reading.
 Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner, Muhammad Sharief Sood, directed all the engineers on job of preparing electric bills to be vigilant. “Don’t be hasty in preparing the bills, be correct, no excuse will be entertained if such complaints reach my office from now,” he  told the officials.

Lastupdate on : Mon, 31 May 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Mon, 31 May 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Tue, 1 Jun 2010 00:00:00 IST