Mangalore: D.K. Shivakumar, State Minister for Energy said that the government has decided not to provide electricity connections for buildings, which are constructed without the land license and occupancy certificate issued by the department of Urban Development.

The minister was addressing presspersons on Sunday September 14, during his visit to the city to attend Onam organized by Kerala Samajam.

The government took the decision after several cases of providing electricity to unauthorized buildings were reported in the state, he said. The engineers of ESCOM will be held responsible, if the instructions are not followed, while providing electricity connection. No political pressure will work in regard to this case, the minister said. He also expressed concern over the setting up of transformers very next to the apartment.

Helpline by ESCOM

The minister also said that the ministry has directed all the ESCOM departments in the state to set up helpline in every sub-division. The Helpline is to attend the customer’s grievances. It’s successful in Bangalore, he said.

In addition to it, every constituency will have a committee of six persons headed by MLA to look into the cases related to electricity. The committee will meet up one’s in every two months. Similarly, another committee will be set up in the taluk level to discuss grievances of the people, the minister said.

The minister also said that he has directed all the ESCOM departments to have a banking of transformers. If the existing transformer fails, ESCOM have to replace it by 24 hours in the city, and by 72 hours in the villages. If the department fails, the concerned engineer will be held responsible, he said.