Roorkee: Uttarakhand Electricity Regulatory Commission (UERC) has slapped a stiff joint penalty of almost Rs 4.8 lakh on two senior engineers of the department for “an inordinate delay in providing new service connections to consumers in their jurisdiction.” The fine will be recovered from the salaries of the engineers in installments, the commission directed in what is the first such action of this kind in the state.Ashutosh Tiwari, executive engineer (rural) of Uttarakhand Power Corporation Ltd (UPCL) said that “at the behest of UERC, notices have been issued to the two officials — Amit Saxena, sub-divisional officer (SDO) of Manglaur and Ompal Singh, SDO, Landaura.” While Saxena has been fined 3.27 lakh, Singh’s penalty is Rs 1.54 lakh. The commision’s direction followed complaints made by over a dozen consumers who alleged that new connections were not provided to them within the stipulated time period as laid down in the power department’s rules. The commission after hearing the matter found the complaint justified and slapped the penalty.However, the aggrieved officials said that they were not directly responsible in delaying of new service connections as “approval of power connection moves from one office to another and many layers of approvals are involved.” “We have submitted a rejoinder to executive engineer (rural) in the matter putting forth the point that there are many officials and departmental channels involved before final approval of power connection is given. Therefore, we should not be held solely repsonsible,” said Amit Saxena, one of the SDOs.

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