Employees blame ‘faulty’ software for erroneous bill

Bijendra Ahlawat

Tribune News Service

Faridabad, November 16

The All-Haryana Power Corporation Workers’ Union held a demonstration here today in protest against the suspension of three DHBVN officials.

The Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) has suspended Sub-Divisional Officer Vikram Singh, Chief Accountant Balram Sharma and lower divisional clerk Pritam Singh after tyre repair shopkeeper Sunil Kandera reported he received a bill of Rs 77.89 crore for power consumption at his two shops in Adarsh Nagar here.

The union demanded action against a company that has been allotted the billing work.

The employees, protesting outside the circle office of the DHBVN here, demanded a fair investigation into the matter and immediate reinstatement of suspended officials.

The DHBVN held back bills of nearly all consumers for around two to three months because of the change in software for preparing bills.

Lajja Ram, circle secretary of the union, termed the action against suspended officials “unjustified”. “The employees are agitated because suspended officials are not at fault. The company’s computer software is faulty.”

The incidence of erroneous billing had gone up to nearly 25 per cent because of problems in uploading the readings of the units consumed, he said.

On Rs 77-crore bill to the tyre repair shopkeeper, Ram said the software did not properly calculate or added consumed units fed into computer.

The power meters were replaced recently. Kandera’s bill’s mentioned meter reading of 9,99,94,330 units consumed. The actual reading was around 1,000 units, he said.

Subhash Lamba, spokesperson for the union, said shortage of staff and outsourcing of billing work had created problems. “The authorities concerned are taking the matter lightly,” he added.