Lucknow, 22 February: Four Varanasi power department personnel were ordered to feed orphanage kids as a ‘punishment’ for inflating power bill by more over โน 2 lakh, claiming charges had been due since 1911 for house connection.
The Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited personnel were held guilty by the UP State Information Commission and had to decrease the power bill to โน 3,998. During the hearings, the commission also asked the guilty officials if the UPPCL existed in 1911 and if Varanasi residents had access to electricity at the time. The UPPCL demanded Uma Shankar Yadav, a Varanasi resident, to pay โน 2.24 lakh in electricity costs for a connection his father Basantu Yadav obtained in 1911 for his property in the city’s Maidagin region.
Umashankar protested the amount, but when he did not receive a favorable settlement, he filed a Right to Information request with the corporation in December 2022, and when he did not receive a satisfactory response, he took the case to higher authorities. Yadav filed a complaint with the UP State Information Commission in April 2023, and the subject was investigated.
As a consequence of the hearings, four UPPCL personnel were found guilty and ordered to feed inmates of two Varanasi orphanages, according to State Information Commissioner Ajaya Kumar Uprety. The punishment came after the four men appeared before the commission on Tuesday in response to a warrant, despite having previously disregarded repeated summonses.
For the first time in the country, four personnel from a single department paid Rs 10,000 at Adampur Police Station in Varanasi in response to a bailable warrant issued by the UP State Information Commission for failing to comply with the Commission’s instructions, according to Uprety. The power department staff apologized to the commission for creating an incorrect electricity bill of Rs 2.24 lakh, claiming they had lowered the charge to Rs 3,998. The event included four personnel from the UPPCL: Superintending Engineer Anil Verma, Executive Engineer RK Gautam, and sub-divisional officers Sarvesh Yadav and Ravi Anand.
Because the accused admitted their error, Uprety opted to punish them with a “symbolic punishment” of feeding kids at two Varanasi orphanages.
The Commission further ruled that costs for meals for orphanage inmates should not exceed Rs 25,000 in each case, and that they notify the Commission of their compliance with the decision, Uprety stated. According to the RTI Act, monetary penalties cannot exceed Rs 25,000, he added.
While hearing the case, the panel asked police questions such as whether electricity was provided to Varanasi residents in 1911. How was the bill computed, and what was the cost per unit? What firm was responsible for transferring power to consumers back then? Was UPPCL at that time in existence?” a source had previously stated. Despite numerous summonses, officials from the energy department refused to respond to these inquiries, causing the commission to issue an arrest warrant. The warrant was addressed to Pramod Kumar, DCP (Kashi Zone).
