TIRUCHY: Even as the last day to link Aadhaar numbers with electricity consumer number is drawing near, several consumers in Tiruchy were asked of to resubmit their details online due to technical issues. Meanwhile, several consumers complained of their details missing from the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) website, resulting in TNEB staff collecting data from door to door.
The TNEB had last November made it mandatory for consumers to link their Aadhaar numbers online to be able to avail of the subsidies on electricity bills. According to Electricity Minister V Senthil Balaji, about 2.6 crore consumers have linked their Aadhar to service connections.
The February 15 deadline given to the remaining seven lakh consumers was extended to February 28. It is in this backdrop the consumers flagged 'missing details' on the website. Kishore, a consumer from Tiruchy, said despite applying for the linking process a month ago, officials came knocking at door seeking details which went missing. "Even my neighbours encountered a similar issue.
They had registered themselves online; however, they were asked to re-register as officials said their details were apparently missing from the website," Kishore said. A Vaiyapuri of Palakkarai, too, narrated similar experiences. In response, officials of the TNEB said the details uploaded online were reverted over technical problems. An employee of the TNEB, on conditions of anonymity, said he went from door to door collecting details of about 900 to 1,000 out of 3,500 consumers in Ramalinga Nagar alone after the technical issue was encountered.
Meanwhile, a senior official said the issue, which was persistent only in small numbers, was rectified through a door-to-door collection of data. "We had encountered instances of incorrect details being uploaded. So we had to directly visit the consumers and get the details right," the official said.