BENGALURU: The Nav Bharat Democratic Party has questioned the recent hike in electricity tariff, and alleged that BESCOM had done it to cover losses due to corruption. A BESCOM official denied the allegations.
President of the party Anil Shetty said the party had written a letter to BESCOM on May 15, raising several questions, and had not received any reply. "If we do not receive any reply in the following days, we will take siege BESCOM office on Wednesday, June 6. We have collected more than 5,000 signatures from citizens in this regard," Shetty said.
He added that if BESCOM was unable to collect the payments, they should reveal who the defaulters were, and the party members could then collect the payments on the behalf of BESCOM.
In the letter sent to BESCOM, among other questions, the party has referred to the electricity board claiming that it is doubtful of collecting `1,173 crore from customers who are not willing to pay. Shetty alleged that these defaulters were influential politicians and industrialists, and the board had hiked the tariff to cover up for the losses from these non-payments.
N Jayanti, general manager, customer relations, BESCOM, said the `1,173 crore of non-payments was recorded in 2008, and were payments due by farmers for IP (Irrigation Pump) sets. She also claimed a reply had been sent to the letter received from the party. In addition, a BESCOM official said the tariff was set by the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC), and not by the board.