Zero power cut villages stare at dark future

Deepender Deswal

Tribune News Service

Hisar, December 21

Over 15 villages selected for round-the-clock power supply are now facing prolonged power cuts.

The Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) has withdrawn the pillar box scheme recently due to non-payment of power bills by the consumers of these villages. The nigam has reverted to the rural mode of power supply and has imposed up to 10 hours of cuts on these villages. The villages were provided power supply on the urban mode for their good performance in keeping line losses within limits and payment of bills.

The nigam had installed pillar boxes in these villages in April last year. Sampat Singh, the then Nalwa MLA, had also taken keen interest in the implementation of the pillar box scheme and encouraged many villages in the Nalwa Assembly segment to instal pillar boxes.

However, consumers in these villages stopped paying bills reportedly on the instance of some social and political groups a few months after its implementation. Villagers alleged they started getting inflated bills after the installation of the pillar boxes.

Now, the nigam has decided to revert to the old pattern of power supply to 15 villages where the defaulting amount has risen up to Rs 9.30 crore.

Khedar village, which was getting round-the-clock power supply is among the top defaulters, where of 1,812 consumers, 1,685 have not paid and the amount has reached Rs 1.25 crore. Chirod, the first village to shift to the pillar box-based supply, is also among the defaulters. As many as 522 consumers out of the total 591 have not paid the bills.

SK Singh, executive engineer, DHBVN, Hisar Circle, told the The Tribune yesterday that these villages were being supplied power on rural mode for 15 days. “The nigam will restore the urban mode supply to these villages after the consumers clear the pending bills.”