People refuse to pay power bills, bus fare in villages

BELAGAVI, CHITRADURGA, KOPPAL, RAICHUR: After the Congress came into power by promising free power up to 200 units and free bus rides for women, people in some villages are refusing to pay up their electricity bills and bus fare. These were among the five ‘guarantees’, which were announced by the party in the run-up to the Assembly election.

In a video, some villagers of Veerapur in Kittur can be seen arguing with with the Hescom staff, who had gone to collect payments for the electricity usage and refusing to pay up the bill citing the Congress guarantees.

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The villagers claimed that since the Congress is now in power, the government will pay their electricity bills as promised in the pre-poll campaign.

The Hescom staffers tried to convince the people to pay up the pending dues and pointed out that the government had not issued any orders on the 200 units of free power, but nothing worked.

In a similar incident at Upparigenahalli in Holalkere taluk of Chitradurga district, the villagers refused to pay their power bills and took a Mescom staffer to task for asking them to pay up.

The villagers said, “We did not allow Mescom staff inside the house to take the meter reading. We have Congress guarantee cards. We elected five MLAs from the district. Let them bring Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM D K Shivakumar here”.

An elderly woman also took the staffer to task saying that they won’t pay the bill, no matter what. Here too, the Mescom staffer told the villagers that the order has not yet been issues by the government and that pending electricity bills have to be paid, but the villagers would not budge.

Chandrashekaraiah was arrested for attacking a Gescom staffer.

At Kukanapalli village in Koppal district, the issue took a serious turn when a man slapped a Gescom staffer who had come to collect the power dues, abused him in foul language and even hit him with his footwear. The attacker, Chandrashekaraiah, had pending dues of about Rs 9,000 and the Gescom authorities had cut his power connection. However, he had drawn a power connection illegally and was cheating the power utility. When the Gescom staffers reached his house asking him to pay up the dues, he attacked one of them.

Manjunath, the Gescom staffer, lodged a complaint with the Munirabad police. Koppal Superintendent of Police Yashoda Vontagodi said Chandrashekaraiah has since been arrested and sent to judicial custody.

An aged woman on a bus initially refused to pay the fare. She later relented.

In Raichur district, an aged woman who was travelling in a bus from Maski to Sindhanur refused to pay the fare when the conductor asked her to do so. “They promised free ticket, free power and we voted for them. Maski MLA Basanagouda Turavihal also said not to pay for travel”, she argued. After much convincing, the bus conductor finally got her to pay up the fare.