Pics: Brijesh Garodi / Spoorthi Ullal
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (BG)
Mangalore, Jun 2: Chaos prevailed at the office of Mangalore Electricity Supply Company (Mescom) Ltd here on Monday June 2 as activists of Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), Kulur unit staged a protest over various issues.
The DYFI activists at first protested outside the office. They wanted to submit a memorandum to Mescom with various demands like installation of a sub-station at Kulur and division of Kavoor sub-station, however, none of the Mescom officials came to accept the memorandum. Angered by this, the protestors barged into the building and gheraoed the Mescom office.
The protestors said that with rainy season coming up, the Mescom needs to immediately set right major problems that are usually seen during monsoons. They pointed out that Kavoor sub-station has 8 corporation wards under it, which has rendered it inefficient, hence it should be divided into two with four wards in each.
They also demanded the setting up of a sub-station at Kulur, and said that though had protested earlier too, there was no response from Mescom or the government, and hence they had no choice but to intensify their protest.
Addressing the protest, Kulur corporator Dayanand Shetty said, "Kavoor sub-station has 8 wards under it and it is finding it difficultt to function efficiently. Lack of staff and inadequate facilitites have further worsened the situation. Out of 20 posts, only 10 are filled. All this has been going on for years, but no action has been taken to rectify the problem.
Electricity bills are not issued properly and many a time, there are mistakes in the bills. It is the people who bear the brunt of Mescom's inefficiency. This has to stop and bills need to be issued on time without errors," he said.
"Mescom has not given adequate facilities to consumers to redress issues. When a complaint is lodged, there is no satisfactory response. We had submitted memorandums earlier too, but in vain," he added.
"A sub-station at Kulur is a must. The Kavoor sub-station officials had submitted a memorandum to the government urging a sub-station in Kulur, but there was no response," he said, reiterating that Mescom should resolve all issues on war-footing.
The protestors shouted slogans and barged into the office. As only a few policemen were present at the time of the protest, more personnel were called to control the situation.
Finally, Sukumar, an official of Mescom, accepted the memorandum after which the protest was called off.
Basheer Panjmogaru, Anil D'Souza, Imtiaz, Pramila, Soumya, Sharan Shetty and other members of DYFI were present.