Rumours over power cut at HDMC office

Hubballi: Routine works at Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation’s central office on Lamington Road were hampered on Tuesday as there was no power supply for a long time.
HDMC staff who came to work on Tuesday morning thought there was no power supply due to some maintenance and were expecting supply to resume soon. When there was no power for several hours, they then enquired with Hescom officials, only to be told that power supply was disconnected due to non-payment of electricity bill. It is said that some HDMC staff remained in the office till afternoon doing nothing and some sections worked using power from a generator.

Sources said HDMC commissioner C W Shakeel Ahmad, who was in Delhi to attend a meeting on the Smart City project, was informed about the issue after which he asked Hescom to restore power supply.

Ahmad told TOI that power supply was disrupted for a brief period as there was some confusion regarding payment of electricity bill. “Actually the bill gets deducted directly from the state finance commission’s electricity fund. I think it was a minor confusion between HDMC and HESCOM and it was resolved. I don’t know the exact amount of the bill but I will look into it once I reach Hubballi,” he said.

Didn’t disconnect power: Hescom official

A H Kamble, executive engineer of HESCOM Hubballi division has different version to offer. He said they did not stop power supply to the HDMC office and that there was a disruption in supply due to some maintenance work. “It is not true that Hescom stopped power supply because of non-payment of bill. It was stopped for emergency maintenance work. The supply was restored after the work was completed,” he said.