Lucknow, 04 April: Disobeying the orders of the Energy Ministry, among the pre-paid meters installed in the Central region by Polaris Meter Company, 13 components (parts) of the meter are from China and other countries. Madhyanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited has sent its report to the Power Corporation after investigation. Uttar Pradesh State Electricity Consumers Council was fighting for a long time to investigate this.
During investigation, it was found that out of total 21 major components, 13 components are from China or other countries. In Intelli Smart’s GTP, names of China and other countries are written in seven components. On this, Madhyanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam has written a letter to the Power Corporation seeking guidance from it. The issue of Chinese components being approved for the components inside the smart prepaid meters that will be installed in the homes of consumers of the state at a cost of Rs 25,000 crore in Uttar Pradesh is now becoming even more serious.
After the petition filed by the Consumer Council in the Electricity Regulatory Commission and the questions raised, now in a whitewash, the management of Madhyanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam has issued instructions to the meter manufacturing companies Polaris and Intelli Smart to revise their GTP. Guidelines have been sought from Power Corporation in the matter of revised GTP. The biggest shocking matter is that the Madhyanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam management has sent a detailed report to the Managing Director of the Power Corporation after the Consumer Council raised questions.
It is automatically admitted that the order for installation of smart prepaid meters has been given to Polaris Company and Intelli Smart in Madhyanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam and the GTP given by them was approved. In it, out of the major 21 components of the Polaris meter manufacturer company, 13 components have the names of Chinese manufacturers and other countries written in them, and in Intelli Smart’s GTP, 7 components have the names of Chinese manufacturers and other countries written in them.
The Consumer Council believes that this is a very serious matter. In the report sent by Madhyanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam to the Power Corporation, it is also written that as per the guidelines set by the Government of India, 60 percent of the components installed inside the meter should be Indian i.e. local and after June 1, 2025 or within the limit. Will be 70 percent.
Chairman of Uttar Pradesh State Electricity Consumer Council and member of the State Advisory Committee, Awadhesh Kumar Verma said that this is a very serious matter. Madhyanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam openly violated the order of 11 August 2020 issued by the Ministry of Energy, Government of India, in which it is clearly written that before purchasing any equipment or component from the country adjacent to the border area, it is necessary to take prior permission of the Government of India.
In such a situation, these meter manufacturing companies did not take prior permission of the Government of India. This has been completely whitewashed and no mention has been made.
