‘Shortage of powermen affecting maintenance work in Mescom area’

Shortage of powermen is affecting maintenance work of Mangalore Electricity Supply Company Ltd. (Mescom), which covers Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Shivamogga, and Chikkamagaluru districts, said Mescom chairman K. Harish Kumar.

Talking to reporters in Mangaluru on Saturday, Mr. Kumar said, as against 9,248 sanctioned posts, 4028 posts were vacant. Of this, 2,683 were vacant posts of powermen. The shortage of power men was affecting maintenance works of Mescom, especially during monsoon.

Mr. Kumar said powermen posts were largely held by those from outside the district. They have been working in the Mescom for three years and then moving to their native places, which creates a vacancy. Not many people were applying for the post as the recruitment was being done at the State-level. Mr. Kumar said he has suggested carrying out the recruitment at the district or divisional level, which would attract more persons for the post.

17.01 lakh covered

Mr. Kumar said as many as 17.01 lakh customers in Mescom limits were being covered under the Gruha Jyothi scheme. The government has paid ₹2,099 crore in the form of subsidy to Mescom till August. The government was yet to pay around ₹600 crore towards electricity bill for water supply and street lights of panchayats.

In order to improve power supply, work was on in 18 sub-stations, and approval has been given for nine more sub-stations. Mescom officials have been asked to properly address the problem of frequent power failures in some areas of Mescom. The officials have been told to ensure that transformer failure repair work is carried out within 24 hours, he said.