Tarun Karthick
Campbell Bay, 28 February 2022
Late Saturday evening when the sun had already set, staff of the Electricity Department at Car Nicobar embarked on a mission allegedly to teach a lesson to a teacher who dared raise his voice against the faulty electric meter installed in his pre-fabricated Govt. Quarter located at Headquarter area. The electric supply to the quarter of the teacher was cut off.
Mr. Paneer Selvam along with his wife and two kids had to stay two nights without electricity at Car Nicobar.
Delhi Govt. provides households with 200 units of free electricity per month. The recent polls in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab saw a slew of promises by various political parties to provide free electricity to households.
No one asks for free electricity in Andaman and Nicobar Islands but at least the authorities should be sensitive towards its consumers and should entertain and solve their complaints.
Electricity is the most basic need today to live a dignified life, but the teacher alleges that the highhandedness of the authorities deprived him of electricity for two days.
Mr. Paneer Selvam informed Nicobar Times that ever since a new Electric Meter was installed at his quarter his electric bills spiked. He added that he soon approached the then Assistant Engineer, Electricity Department and spoke to him regarding the sudden spike in the Electricity Bill after installation of the New Meter. The Assistant Engineer reportedly assured Mr. Selvam that his meter will be checked and replaced but he left the station because of some illness.
Mr. Selvam further informed that in November 2021 he and his family were out of Car Nicobar but when they returned they were surprised to find that the electric bill for November 2021 was even more than what they were receiving during the previous months.
New Assistant Engineer had joined Electricity Department, Car Nicobar by then.
Mr. Selvam wrote to the Assistant Engineer demanding justification for the Electric Bill amount of November 2021, he did not receive a reply so he again sent a reminder letter. On not receiving any reply from the AE, Mr. Selvam filed an RTI Application seeking information regarding action taken on his earlier complaint.
Further, Mr. Selvam said he filed several other RTI Applications seeking information from Electricity Department because he sensed something was amiss about the entire department and the way they operated in Car Nicobar.
On 7th of February 2022, Mr. Selvam was issued a notice to pay his outstanding bill amount which had accumulated over the months because of his dispute regarding the faulty meter installed at his quarter. The notice stated the outstanding amount of Mr. Selvam as Rs. 7445/- in numerals and Rs. 6904/- in words.
Mr. Selvam again wrote to the Assistant Engineer to clarify the outstanding amount as the notice stated different amounts in numerals and words. Again on 25th February 2022, Mr. Selvam received the correct notice by post, but the notice was dated 17th February and was sent by post on 22nd February 2022 by the AE. The second notice asked him to pay the due amount within 10 days from the date of the original notice.
In the meantime, after the first notice was received, Mr. Selvam wrote to the Superintendent Engineer, Electricity Department and informed that his complaint is not being entertained properly by the Assistant Engineer and Junior Engineer at Car Nicobar and informed the SE that the AE is being arbitrary and unreasonable.
It is important to note that the O/o AE, Electricity Department, Car Nicobar sent the notice with the correct amount to Mr. Selvam on 22nd February 2022 by post and it was received by Mr. Selvam on 25th February 2022, but the due date of payment was on 20th February 2022 according to the notice.
Mr. Selvam alleges that the Assistant Engineer deliberately delayed sending the correct notice to him on time. Mr. Selvam further alleged that the AE had set him up so that he could disconnect his connection, on the pretext of non-payment of the Outstanding Electricity Bill.
On 25th February 2022, the notice was received by Mr. Selvam and on 26th February 2022 Mr.Selvam visited the Cash Counter of the Electricity Department, Car Nicobar to deposit the outstanding amount, but the cashier refused to take the bill amount from Mr. Selvam and informed him that on Saturday the cash counter remains closed and it is only open on specific days in a week.
Mr. Selvam reportedly told the cashier that the notice received by him doesn’t specify the days when the outstanding bill amount can be paid and he reportedly had a heated argument with the staff there. The staff did not collect the bill amount from Mr. Selvam and instead the same evening the department disconnected his electricity connection.
It is to note here that the Assistant Engineer and the Junior Engineer of the Electricity Department knew that Mr. Selvam wanted to pay his outstanding bill and that he had also visited the counter on Saturday to pay his bill, but his bill amount was not received by the cashier. The same day at around 6:30 Pm the staff of the Electricity Department disconnected the electricity connection of Mr. Selvam’s house.
Prima facie this entire incident looked like vengeance against Mr. Selvam for filing a complaint against Assistant Engineer and Junior Engineer. Nicobar Times tried calling AE, Electricity Department, Car Nicobar on his mobile number on Saturday evening, but the call went unanswered.
Mr. Selvam and his wife also pleaded with Deputy Commissioner and Assistant Commissioner to restore their electric connection but did not receive any help.
Mr. Selvam also called the Executive Engineer of the Electricity Department who also did not listen to Mr. Selvam properly and instead started threatening him that she will write about him to the Director of Education.
In South Andaman District people can pay their Electricity bills online on Urja Pay but no such facility has been extended to the people of Nicobar District. When there are no facilities to make payment of electricity bill on a Saturday, why did the officials of the electricity department consider it appropriate to disconnect the electric connection of Mr. Selvam on a Saturday and that too after 6:00 Pm when it is already dark.
It seems that any staff of Andaman and Nicobar Administration can now suppress the voice of a citizen by playing all the bad tricks in their book and no authority will take cognizance of it.
Disconnecting the electric connection of Mr. Selvam deliberately, even after knowing that he wants to pay the bill and had visited the cash counter earlier, was a trick to harass him.
Strict action should be taken against the errant officials of the Electricity Department and an example should be made so that no citizen is harassed in such a manner.