Wiring completed 8 months back yet helpless without power connection

Team Udayavani, Nov 4, 2018, 5:41 PM IST

• Life of Baby from Peralke Karaya in darkness

Uppinangady: Under the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana, electricity facility has been granted to a poor widow and the installation of the wiring has been completed eight months ago, yet due to the negligence of the contractor, the electricity connection has not yet been provided.

Baby and her family, residents of Peralke in Karaya village have been devoid of electricity facility. She is a widow and she has no children. She lives in a small house in Perlake. Since she possess Antyodaya card, she was qualified for free electricity facility under the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana. The contractor has finished installing the wiring and meter. Yet, it has been eight months since the installation but there is no electricity connection, informs Baby’s brother Suresh.

Proposal before Gram Sabha

Baby, a resident of Perlake in Karaya village of Uppinangadi, spends her life under the light of a chimney lamp. It has been learnt that though the contractor has completed the installation work, they have failed to provide the relevant documents to Mescom because of which electricity connection has not been provided. This issue was brought before the Junior Engineer of Mescom during the Gram Sabha and yet many months have passed since the engineer gave assurance of immediate connection.  Till date, the woman’s house has not been connected with electricity connection, accuses Jayaram, a resident.

Important documents not provided

The contractor’s failure to submit necessary documents to Mescom is the reason behind this issue say officials. The contractors are supposed to start work after procuring documents from the families enlisted in the list of beneficiaries provided by the Panchayat under the Gram Jyoti Yojana. The contract was taken by Jyothi electrical institution from Mangaluru. But, only after the documents are submitted to Mescom, the officials scrutinize them, provide UDR number for the house and then connect it with electricity. Though the wiring has been completed, since the essential documents have not been submitted to Mescom, it is not possible to give electricity connection, informs Prasanna, junior engineer, Mescom Kelleri division.

Article by MS Bhat Uppinangady translated into English by Aaron Dmello