Dharmanagar Electricity Department surrounded, people angry over digital meter bill

TripuraprottoyCorrespondent, Dharmanagar: When the common people of Dharmanagar were suffering from the extra electricity bill due to digital meters, the people of the city took to the streets on Saturday afternoon to express their anger. Local residents of Ward No. 7 of Dharmanagar and the madhyasahar area gathered and surrounded the office of the Dharmanagar Electricity Department. Not only surrounded, they also started a sit-in with placards in their hands in front of the main gate of the department. The protesters alleged that the electricity department has removed the old analog meters and installed new digital meters in the past few months. And since then, the electricity bill has started increasing two to three times. Many have claimed that where their monthly bill used to be between 300 and 500 taka earlier, now it is coming up to 1500- 2000 taka. However, there has been no increase in electricity consumption. The protesters said that it is not possible for them to pay this extra bill. Middle and lower class families are facing extreme financial difficulties in meeting this unusual bill. Seeing the situation heating up, the DGM and senior manager of the Electricity Department quickly reached the spot. Seeing them, the protest intensified. The locals surrounded them and demanded a solution to the problem. Then a meeting was held between the officials of the Electricity Department and a delegation of protesters. Several councilors of the Dharmanagar Municipal Council, prominent citizens and representatives of the protesting area were present in the delegation. After a long meeting, the delegation said that the Electricity Department has assured that the higher authorities will be informed about this problem immediately. However, the aggrieved people have decided that no new digital meters will be installed anywhere in Dharmanagar until this problem is resolved. The representative team has informed that if effective steps are not taken quickly, they will be forced to walk the path of a bigger movement in the future. An official from the Electricity Department said, "After the installation of new digital meters, in some cases there may be technical errors or meter calibration problems. They will look into the matter seriously and inform the higher authorities to take necessary action."