Power supply will be cut off from 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM on Wednesday, February 4, in order to aid the urgent maintenance services in the L.R. Bande substation, BESCOM said. Thousands of residential and commercial customers in the North Bengaluru belt are expected to be affected by the disruption, the shutdown said.
Complete List of Affected Areas
Hebbal Division locations will be among those that will see the power cutoff.
Main Locations:
- Kavalbyrasandra
- Sultanpalya
- Shampura
- Kanakanagar
Layouts:
- Gandhinagar
- Chinnanna Layout
- Ambedkar Layout
- Anwar Layout
- Kaveri Nagar
- Rankanagar
- Adarsh Nagar
- Muniveerappa Layout
Roads & Localities
- L.R. Bande Main Road
- KHB Main Road
- Bhuvaneshwari Nagar
- D.G. Halli
- K.J. Halli
- V. Nagenahalli
- Periyar Nagar
- Periyar Circle
- Kushal Nagar
- Modi Road
- Modi Garden
- Sugar Mandi
- Salt Mandi
Institutions: Ambedkar Medical College and surrounding vicinities.
Increasing Friction Over Billing for Electricity
During the city’s preparation for technical maintenance, a political storm is currently brewing over energy pricing in place at the state. Karnataka Prantha Raitha Sangha (KPRS) recently protested the Congress-led government in the BESCOM sub-divisional office in Bagepalli with their complaints of backtracking on their offer to provide "200 units free electricity" back to KPRS.
Key Allegations by Protesters:
Inflated Bills: KPRS Secretary D.T. Muniswamy said even with the "Gruha Jyothi" scheme, citizens now face "additional surcharges" and "adjustments" resulting in rising monthly charges.
- Digital Meter Fee payments: Protesters insisted that the government is demanding between ₹9,000 to ₹11,000 from average citizens to install new digital meters.
- Agricultural Impact: Farmers worried that the move to install digital meters on pump sets of farmers would precede charging them for the electricity that they're currently being subsidized for to the detriment of agricultural power providers.
- Fears of Privatization: The association said any move to privatize the sector of electricity would make basic living impossible for laborers and the working class.
BESCOM AAE Somashekar was using a memorandum sent to Energy Minister K.J. George stating that protests would become more robust if the government failed to deal with the "excessive billing" concerns immediately.
