Power supply of poor family cut as it fails to pay hefty bill

Ajay Joshi

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, July 7

The electricity connection of a poor family at Talhan village here was severed as they could not pay a whopping power bill of Rs46,950.

Harbhajan Lal (45) and his wife Kashmiro are running from pillar to post for waiver of the power bill, but no official is listening to them. While the differently abled couple has also been issued a fine of Rs 10,000, Harbhajan claims that they use only a fan and three lights.

They received the inflated bill in January this year and the family of three has been without electricity since. It was only in the last month that they used kundi connection to light up their house. However, during a raid by workers of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) on June 27, they cut off not only kundi connection, but also slapped a penalty of Rs 10,000 on the family. “A few months before receiving the inflated bill, we had also received an electricity bill of Rs 12,500. Owing to the Covid-induced lockdown, we exhausted all our savings and are now left with no work. Therefore, we could not pay the bill for a few months. Despite repeated pleas, our bill was neither corrected nor waived,” said Lal, who makes a living by selling toys with his wife near Talhan gurdwara. Owing to their financial crisis, their 17-year-old daughter also dropped out of school last year.

After visitors were denied entry to the gurdwara, the couple lost their business and did not have any other source of income. Except one ceiling fan, three bulbs and water motor pump, the couple did not have any other electrical gadget to use. Despite that they get bill in thousands.

Kashmiro said PSPCL officials had asked us to pay the bill in 15 days otherwise their house would be sealed. “With the mercury rising, we had to get electricity through kundi connection with the help of our neighbours,” added Kashmiro.

Surprisingly, despite being among the beneficiaries, Harbhajan said he never got 200 free electricity units.

Meanwhile, SAD MLA from Adampur Pawan Tinu said even as Navjot Singh Sidhu had a pending electricity bill running into lakhs, his electricity connection was not severed, but poor people in the district were forced to suffer. He assured the family of his help in clearing their bill.