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Journalism of Courage
VADODARA, March 24: The Akhil Gujarat Vidyut Kamdar Sangh, one of the biggest unions of the Gujarat Electricity Board (GEB), has threatened to launch an agitation if the Board does not withdraw within a fortnight a circular to increase burden on meter-readers.
According to information, through a circular on February 26, the Board has increased the load on the meter-readers by 80 meters per day in the urban areas and 70 in the rural areas. Earlier, the meter-readers had to take reading of 120 meters daily in cities and 80 meters in the rural areas.
In a statement, Sangh general secretary Baldev Patel claimed that the Sangh was not involved in the decision-making process. Stating that the meter readers were facing lot of difficulties due to the change, he alleged that a notice about the change being effected was also not given.
Patel said as the meter readers were finding the job difficult as full computerisation has not been introduced so far. He told Express Newsline that currently only names of the consumers and the last meter readings are computerised whereas the rest of the calculations have to be done manually.
He regretted that instead of decreasing the burden the Board had done otherwise. Patel said the Sangh has already issued a notice to the GEB in the context and if the order was not reversed they would demonstrate against the Board Executive Director (Finance).
Meanwhile, Patel claimed that at a recent meeting with Sangh members, Board Chairman Nalin Bhatt had agreed to set the target for cities at 150 and for rural segments at 100.
