Power complaints redress vow
2 min readPatna: Power companies in Bihar are taking steps to monitor complaints from consumers on the toll-free number 1912, the services of which have been provided to all the states by the Union ministry of power.
Senior officials – right up to the chairman cum managing director of Bihar State Power Holding Company Limited and the managing directors of two power distribution companies – are keeping tabs on the total number of complaints and the pending ones, and also cross-checking the complaints that have already disposed of.
“We pick up random cases for keeping tab on the quality of grievance redress, and interact directly with the complainants to find out whether they were happy with the redress or not,” said a senior official in the state power holding company.
The senior officials are also keeping tabs on the pending complaints.
“We have issued several show-cause notices to the field officials in case of delay in grievance redress and in some cases even disciplinary action has been taken when the field officials concerned have failed to come up with convincing replies,” said the official.
The power companies have set up a dedicated cell at the headquarters through which the complaints are passed on to the field officials. The cell also keeps records of the redress and regular reports are generated which are monitored at the highest level.
In February this year, 14,392 complaints were received of which 1,926 remained pending. The corresponding figures for March were 10,913 complaints received and 708 pending, and for April there were 10,731 complaints of which 3,187 were pending.
The grievance redress system also has an inbuilt mechanism which leads to escalation of a complaint to a higher level in case the official concerned fails to redress it in a given timeframe. The MDs of power distribution companies and the CMD of the holding company too have been added to the pyramid.
“We are committed to ensure redress of all genuine grievances in shortest possible time,” said the official. “In case any field official would be found to be lax on this front, stern action will follow.”
Courtesy: The Telegraph
