BSEB 'helps' politicians consume 'free power'

PATNA: The state-owned Bihar State Electricity Board
(BSEB) is doing politicians a great favour. They don't have to pay for the power consumed
because of the non-functioning of meters at their official residences.

Their official bungalows/quarters located in posh localities have long been without proper electric meters. And electrical equipment like fans, TVs, fridges, geysers and coolers are freely used by them.

All legislators are entitled to 2,000 units of free power per month while for ministers it is 5,000 units. The total number of MLAs and MLCs in Bihar is 242 and 75 respectively. The budgetary provision for energy bills of MLAs in 2008-09 was Rs 1.21 crore while for MLCs it was Rs 59.71 lakh. Most of the money remains unutilised.

BSEB's internal inquiries revealed that each legislator uses ACs in all their rooms. "They do not believe in energy conservation. Most of them are not even aware of it. They live in a comfort zone with round-the-clock facilities of water and power," said a BSEB official.

"BSEB is not able to collect the payment of energy bills of legislators due to faulty meters. There is also no mechanism to keep a record of meter reading. Besides, we have our own constraints. There are `other reasons' as well," said another official but did not elaborate.

Recalling an incident, a senior official said CM Nitish Kumar once faced a piquant situation when he as an MLA found that there was no system to check details of outstanding energy bills of the previous occupant. Nitish then immediately called up BSEB officials to rectify the fault so that he should not be charged with being a defaulter. "The situation has not changed much. Only 25 per cent of meters in government quarters are functional," said the official.

Patna Electric Supply Undertaking (PESU) west chief SKP Singh claimed that most of the meters are being replaced in government quarters. "We are installing electronic meters," Singh said.

Source : Times of India