Mysuru: A public consultation meet was held on Wednesday to discuss and deliberate on the proposal by the Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Company (Cesc) to hike the power tariff per unit by Rs 1.13. The meeting was presided over by the chairman of Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) MK Shankaralinge Gowda. The hike in the tariff was proposed by Cesc director D Kiran, who stated that the hike was necessary to offset the revenue deficit of Rs 762.23 crore.Kiran, who presented the agency report at the meeting that was attended by representatives of various groups including industrialists, farmer organisations and resident associations, has also asked for an increase in fixed charges for the financial year. Almost immediately after Kiran tabled the report, industrialists and farmers criticised the agency for its shortcomings in service. They told the director that Cesc ought to focus more on providing better service to people, and then contemplate hiking the tariff.Vice-president of the KIADB Industrial Area Manufacturers’ Association K Ravindra Prabhu dubbed the proposed hike ‘anti-industry, anti-consumer, unscientific and unjust’.“The losses incurred by Cesc are the consequence of poor management. The government has been earning a profit by selling power through intermediaries to consumers, and supplementing revenue by levying tax on consumers. Also, the public has no access to the performance of these government-owned intermediaries,” said Prabhu.Other industrialists complained about the adverse impact that unscheduled power cuts were having on their functioning, and requested the commission to ensure they were intimated about power cuts beforehand so they could plan accordingly.‘Cesc will be responsible if farmers commit suicide’Rajendra Ramapura, a farmer from Kollegal, vociferously argued against the proposed raise in power tariff, and said that Cesc officials would be held responsible if farmers committed suicide. “Not only do farmers have to perform the duties of an elecvtric linesman, but they also have to bribe officials to get things done. If the transformer breaks down, the farmer has to get it fixed himself, and pay a bribe to move it, even after which he might have to wait for weeks before the work gets done. The only job that a few linesmen have is to collect bribes, and I have proof to back my allegations. Harassment by Cesc is one of the reasons leading to migration of farmers,” said Ramapura, adding that it was sad to see election booths not having power although the assembly polls were around the corner.Other farmers present at the meeting grieved that Cesc was next only to the revenue department in terms of corruption.Gowda, who listened to these complaints, directed Kiran to ensure they were addressed. “Strengthen the vigilance team to curb theft of electricity, and illegal connections so that losses can be minimised. While Bengaluru is consuming 50% of the power in the state, the rest of the power companies consume the rest,” said Gowda, further instructing the Cesc director towards making efforts to improve the quality of service.Power for farmers from 6am to 6pmHowever, the picture was not entirely grim for the farmers. Gowda said that, taking note of the demand from the agrarian community, the government was mulling over providing power for agriculture from 6am to 6pm in lieu of the existing system wherein power was supplied from 6pm to 6am. This piece of information came in form much praise from the farmers, who said that this would help them utilise the power judiciously, besides plugging waste of the commodity.

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