These past two months, lots of media attention is being given to the people’s opposition to installation of digital meters in parts of Jammu and Kashmir. People have concerns about such a switchover, and the administration is not able to convince them that this move is the need of the modern times, where even the thermometers we use are digital.
I have seen a few videos put up by the digital news channels where officers of the electricity department attempt to reduce various doubts of the public. I have also seen a few videos where digital and analog meters were put up for a live comparison. The videos showed that digital meters are as dependable, if not more. I wonder why there are so many concerns about a simple changeover, in a thoroughly digitised world !
I met a lady inspector of the electricity department called JPDCL ( Jammu Power Distribution Corporation Limited ), who faced threatening crowds – wielding sticks – when she went to Chattha area on the outskirts of Jammu. She was surveying the area for installation of smart meters.
I have also learned that when an assistant engineer visited areas near Greater Kailash on the Pathankot highway, he found that electricity was being blatantly stolen from right behind the electric sub-station !
Thankfully, there were no violent demonstrations when the department, now called JPDCL, advised the thieves to apply for legal electrical connections, and installed the meters for those who have been stealing electricity for years.
I have seen those days in Jammu when, most of the time, there were no electricity meters. And if they were present, they did not work. Even if they were in working conditions, their readings were disregarded. In a nutshell, the meters were redundant. They were of no practical use.
The “lineman” of the electricity department was the most ubiquitous personality. He was the practical and working relation between the department and the consumers of electricity. Disregarding the meter, he calculated how much was your electrical consumption. He then decided how much you owed to the department and the rest he pocketed himself.
He would make an appearance whenever you had an issue with the supply of electricity to your dwelling unit. Or, he would knock ( I doubt if those days people had the call bells installed ! ) your door when he was in need of some money underhand ! The relationship was sacrosanct and so were the dealings.
How could a mere metallic gadget come in between the lineman and the consumers ? It had no importance, even if it was decorating your walls. If it gave you a reading of, say, 1700 units, your lineman was there to run it backwards ! He will do the magic and with consumption of each unit of electricity, the meter will move the other way and start reducing the number downwards from 1700. All this, of course, was done for a certain consideration.
Whenever we came back to Jammu from wherever my father was posted across India, we would witness the scenes described above, at most of the houses we visited. We were, of course, not used to this scenario outside the limits of Jammu and Kashmir. I wonder if similar practises were prevalent in other parts of the country too.
Nowhere did you see the use of electric stoves as much as in our riyasat. In fact, right up to the 70s, I witnessed food being cooked on electric stoves only in Jammu and Srinagar. These heaters were running ablaze almost round the day, that is, if we had electricity available for that long ! They were seldom given a resting luxury. This could happen only because the money we paid for electricity was almost negligible, thanks to the rampant corruption in the system.
With the dawn of the 21st century, things started changing, though slowly. Accountability became the need of the hour. Slowly and steadily, reformative measures were put in place. Of course, there was stiff resistance from the citizens who were used to enjoying using electricity free of charge.
A similar situation prevailed in the offices of the department. The department stressed upon the staffers to be polite, decent and helpful to the consumers. Very reluctantly, good and civilised practices were thrust uoon those who maintained the systems and provided electricity. It was more challenging to change the mindset of the staff, that electricity was not their personal property but belonged to the people’s Government.
I like to give credit where it is deserved, especially to the Government departments and their personnel. I admit I have witnessed a radical change in the behaviour of those manning the helpline of the electrical department.
Sometime in November, last year, I was staying in Gandhi Nagar when the electricity went off. We checked and found that only our house was cut off whilst the neighbourhood was not. I used internet to find a helpline number and reached them fast. To say the least, the attending person was, surprisingly, polite and helpful. He was in no hurry to disconnect the phone line.
After I had provided the details of the electrical connection, read out from the electric bill, he told me that there was no cut off from their side and it must be a fault with the concerned lineman. On my request, he readily provided the name and cell number of the concerned person. I immediately contacted the gentleman.
The time was around 10 pm. In 15 minutes flat, the lineman reached the spot. He checked and found that our meter had wrongly been disconnected for non-payment of the bills ! It was a mistake. Within 40 minutes from the complaint lodged, we got our electrical connection restored. A great relief for a Jammuite who is not used to such prompt actions in the city.
To be honest, all this excercise was undertaken by me rather unwillingly and reluctantly, expecting an unhelpful attitude and response from the representatives of the electrical department. I was pleasantly surprised to receive a positive and helpful response. Friends, things are in the process of changing for the better. Things have changed too, though not as much as we desire.
Let us take another example, not the one I can be proud of. A street light on the pole outside Shiva Gas Agency in Last More, Gandhi Nagar was cut off when the JMC ( Jammu Municipal Corporation ) people cut a tree nearby. It has not been restored even after three months ! You call up and the electricity department tells you that this is the responsibility of the JMC. And when we call up the JMC, nobody there knows who exactly is the responsible person. The concerned corporator never picks up his mobile phone. In a nutshell , there is no street light glowing from the pole outside Shiva Gas agency till date.
I have seen that digital meters are installed in NOIDA, for example, for the past several years. These digital meters are ” prepaid” too ! Consumers use these meters just like their mobile phones with prepaid SIMs. There were no agitations when these meters were installed or when the prepaid scheme was enforced. Everything here works fine for the consumers.
My younger brother, a retired general from the army, lives in NOIDA. Prepaid digital electric meters are installed in their society since 2017. He loads his electricity account online and happily consumes the electricity without any hassle. The billing for the money loaded online and the electricity consumed is digitally done. So, there is practically no physical contact or movement required, unless there be some technical fault!
Unlike in Jammu, politicians and so called social workers did not incite the consumers against installation of these meters, wherever such smart meters are installed countrywide. There were no incited consumers to threaten or beat up the inspectors of the electricity department when they visited their areas for the proposed installation.
Why are certain citizens against the installation of the digital (smart) meters in Jammu? Why is the issue being politicised? What is wrong if these meters are installed? What are the pitfalls of enforcing the prepaid scheme for electricity consumers?
Politicians and certain bad elements of the society have vitiated the social scenario in Jammu by spreading unfounded information about smart meters and the prepaid electricity scheme.
First things first. Only those citizens fear the installation of smart meters who do not wish to pay for the electricity they consume and, thereby, be honest and responsible individuals. Then, politicians are playing dirty tricks by exploiting the ignorance of the masses. Instead, they should be educating them to adopt fair means and welcome installation of these new meters.
I see smart meters hanging from the electric poles all around Gandhi Nagar. Janipur, and areas around, are using these meters for the past two years as told to me by engineers of the department. By inciting poor and ignorant masses at other areas, small time politicians of Jammu are doing a great social disservice. They simply want people to play unfair games with the Government and, thereby, usurp honest taxpayers’ money. They want people to cheat the nation so that they can “take up” their “cause” and agitate against the administration.
Politicians of all colours must shy away from exploitation of the ignorant masses, and tell them honestly why smart meters and the prepaid system are damn good schemes for a responsible citizenry.
They should educate the people to stop stealing electricity and willingly come forward to seek proper legal connections. Poverty should not be an excuse to steal. Inspectors and the concerned staff of JPDCL should not be threatened as they come for the installation; they should be welcomed with a glass of water at the least and, may be, even cup of hot tea ! That is why we need educated and morally upright politicians.
I learn that Jammu needs about 1400 MW ( Megawatts ) of electricity. Presently, only 1050 MW electricity is available. That makes it a shortage of 350 MW. These numbers are per se dynamic. ” A major part of this shortage can be covered if we can plug theft of electricity”, says an assistant electrical engineer I spoke to. For those of us who are not mathematicians or electrical engineers, 1400 MW amounts to 1,40,00,00,000 units!
I make a fervent appeal on behalf of the fellow citizens of Jammu to JPDCL and those responsible for making Jammu a smart city : please do something urgent to manage the electrical wires hanging from poles all across the city. These hanging electrical wires give an ugly look besides making citizens feel unsafe too.
Do you know that the Government of Jammu and Kashmir procures electricity at the rate of seven rupees per unit and supplies it to the citizens at a rate of just two rupees per unit ? That is if your monthly consumption is less than 200 units. This comes down to a subsidy of five rupees per unit against a levy of two rupees per unit.
If you use between 200 to 400 units, you pay three rupees fifty paise per unit. And if your consumption is beyond 400 units, you pay three rupees eighty five paise per unit.
The Government has already heavily subsidised the electricity for us. Shame that many amongst us still prefer to steal it. Remember, subsidy comes from your own wallet, the taxpayers’ money.
For the kind information of my readers, for 24 x 7 x 365 hours uninterrupted supply of electricity, a Mumbaikar pays a minimum six rupees per unit of electricity charges, which goes up to 11 rupees per unit for higher levels of usage. Dear Jammuites, despite all the odds you face, you must learn to count your blessings, embrace the positive changes the Government brings to you, and welcome the digital meters smartly !
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