Transco offers week-long service for grievance redressal

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD, OCT. 4. As yet another leap forward inspired by reforms, the AP Transco is offering a week-long consumer service from tomorrow through camps all over the State, covering all villages, for an on-the-spot redressal of grievances.

Like under the anti-pilferage drive implemented last year during which unauthorised services were registered for regularisation, special counters will be opened for every two or three villages manned by electricity officials to receive complaints relating to billing, meter defects, voltage fluctuations, breakdowns, etc. The Roads & Buildings Minister, Mr K. Vijayarama Rao, will launch the programme by inaugurating one such camp at Kukatpalli on Friday.

Arrangements have been made for implementing the "radical measure" with constituting 1,500 teams of Transco officials formed, each comprising at least two technical and two revenue officials, to man the counters at the camps running up to October 12. The Transco CMD, Mr P. Ramakanth Reddy, prepared the ground for the exercise by having a video-conference this morning with superintending engineers in districts. Briefing the press later, Mr Reddy said the teams would set out at 8 am everyday and clear all the cases registered that day, spending at least two to three hours at each village.

The camps would use the occasion to educate 1.38 crore consumers in the State on the need for "energy audit".

Mr. Reddy and four other officials--Messrs Dinesh Kumar, P. M. K. Gandhi, M. V. S. Birinchi, JMD and Commercial and Technical Directors for Transco, and C. Ramamohan Rao, Projects Director for Andhra Pradesh Central Power Distribution Company--explained that Ministers and elected representatives like MPs, MLAs, Municipal and ZP chairmen and sarpanches would be associated with the programme.

Mr. Reddy faced a hostile press when he made claims of "quality supply" under reforms, with reporters complaining about supply "behaving like motor-bike blinkers these days" instead of being off for long durations under cuts as in the past. Reporters said, power was off in no time in Hyderabad and when it came back, it came in high voltage, affecting electronic gadgets. Mr Rama Mohana Rao was asked to attend to the areas specified.

The CMD made it clear that there was no cut anywhere in the State as the availability position was "extremely comfortable" even with discontinuance of buying from Chattisgarh and Orissa, extra allocation from Central stations and outage of four units--three at Kothagudem and one at Vijayawada. This was possible due to the rain which improved the storages in the reservoirs, especially Srisailam, whose level today touched 876 ft, and fall in demand.

Mr Ramakanth Reddy also ruled out release of additional agriculture service connections over and above the number committed by the Chief Minister on the floor of the Assembly. The Chief Minister, he recalled, made the commitment to regularise 2.53 lakh unauthorised services registered during the drive and release of a fresh list of 50,000 additionally.

Dealing with doubts about the capacity of the Transco to attend to the grievances in the light of insufficient staff, he said sanctions were issued to recruit 591 assistant engineers, 437 sub-engineers, 571 revenue cashiers and 460 operation and maintenance staff.

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