BENGALURU: Even less popular than the ward committee meetings of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) are the customer interaction meetings (CIM) of Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM). The latter are held from 3 to 5.30pm on the third Saturday of every month at each sub-division office.However, citizens barely know about it. BESCOM website calls them as “consumer participatory” events held to “address their grievances”.
As per monthly statistics for 2018, the number of people attending the meeting at sub-division level ranges from zero to 10, occasionally going up to 15. At the circle level, which includes divisions and sub-divisions, the numbers are dismal when compared to the size they cover. For instance, only 34 customers attended the December meeting in Bengaluru South circle, which comprises Jayanagar, HSR and Koramangala.
Even citizens who actively participate in BBMP ward committee meetings told CE they were unaware about CIMs. “There is low awareness among consumers that they can approach the local sub-division office each month. Many a time, the engineers tell us that no one turned up. Anything can be discussed there, right from power cuts and billing to shifting of poles and additional load requirements,” said Krishnamurthy B, GM, customer relations, BESCOM.
The attendance in Ramanagara, Kolar, Tumkur circles is better. As many as 58 people attended CIMs in Bengaluru West circle in December 2018, which consists of RR Nagar, Kengeri and Rajajinagar divisions, with 15 sub-divisions under them. Also, even though the BESCOM website states that the proceedings and photos must be uploaded on the website, none is available for public viewing. Krishnamurthy said, “We get proceeding copies and photos from the engineers but they have not been uploaded on the site. While the proceeding copies can be given to the consumer if they ask for it, the photos and recordings may not make an impact. We can still do it, however. Now, we plan to conduct awareness drives at the local level about customer interaction meetings.”