Inflated power bills, poor voltage upset Muzaffarpur

MUZAFFARPUR: Though the availability of power has improved in Muzaffarpur, wrong billings, delayed supply of bills resulting in penalty and low voltage continue to become a cause of worry for consumers. Besides, frequent snapping of wires with poles being hit by trucks every now and then and breakdown caused by imbalanced loads on transformers are other probelms that consumers face here.
Whereas political blame game has started between NDA and Mahagathbandhan partners over the issue with the onset of election debate among followers of rival parties, a large section of power consumers across the district are finding themselves at the receiving end due to fault on the part of a private agency entrusted with the task of supplying power as well as collecting revenues from them.
As if to add insult to injury, a large section of power consumers of Aurai, Kanti and Kurhani assembly constituencies have complained time and again that they have been handed over power bills even without getting power connection. In fact, poles were dropped and, in some areas, even wires were fitted but houses were not connected to the main energy line. Victims of inflated bills are forced to frequently visit offices of the private power agency. A major section of consumers do not get bills on time but the agency does not forget to charge penalty for the delayed payment.
All the consumers do not have time to frequently visit the offices of power company to get their bills rectified hence they have to pay inflated bills. Dissatisfaction among victims of inflated bills is likely to affect the prospect of the ruling JD (U) and its partner RJD and the number of such victims is no less than 10 to 20% in every constituency.
Villagers living in a radius of 5 km of Kanti thermal plant have not yet been given an assured uninterrupted power supply by the plant management even after a prolonged struggle by villagers and a subsequent government decision to implement the practice being followed by other power plants in the country.
On the other hand, residents of Muzaffarpur town complain that the condition of roads of smaller towns of north Bihar region like Darbhanga and Motihari are better than Muzaffarpur’s. The government has spent sufficient amount over roads in rural areas but not in this town.
A huge population of Katra block under Aurai constituency is disappointed over non-fulfilment of promises by state ministers for construction of a bridge at Bokuchi where they are still crossing the river Bagmati through a ‘chachari pul’, a bridge made with bamboo pieces by villagers themselves.