E-Paper
SRNH finds power bill too heavy
EXCESSIVE USE of electricity by inmates of the staff colony on campus of the Swaroop Rani Nehru Hospital has become a cause of concern.
EXCESSIVE USE of electricity by inmates of the staff colony on campus of the Swaroop Rani Nehru Hospital has become a cause of concern.
Interestingly, in many houses, the authorised officials are not residing and, instead, they have illegally rented them out to other persons. These illegal residents are freely using electricity as, according to system, fixed amount is deducted from the salary of the officials concerned as power expenditure.
According to sources, many employees are residing in their own houses elsewhere in the city and have rented out their campus residences to their friends, relatives and others, who can pay a good amount of money as rent.
The power bill of the staff colony on the Swaroop Rani Nehru Hospital campus has crossed Rs 12 lakh. Illegal power connections and free use of ACs and other gadgets reportedly by the PG Hostel inmates and other hospital staff has further compounded the power problem.
The Swaroop Rani Hospital administration has formed an inquiry committee to identify the employees, who have sublet their quarters to their relatives and employees of other departments. The committee will also identify the staff using 'katia connections' for their high-power gadgets. The measure is aimed at controlling the electricity bill and putting a curb on the illegal power connections.
Sources said more than ten Class-III and Class-IV employees of the hospital have sublet their official residences to their relatives after converting them into double-storeyed quarters.
According to sources, these people are freely using power for cooking food on heaters. "Some quarters do not have electricity meters while many others are using katia connections. Many inmates of PG Hostel are using ACs and geysers on the residential line," said a senior staff nurse, who wished anonymity.
The nurse said due to heavy load, either the power line gets tripped or disconnected due to non-payment of bills. "We are the worst sufferers. The power bill is deducted from our salary every month. But, we have to face long ours of power cuts on account of tripping or non-payment of dues. Just last week only, the line was disconnected by the Power Department for non-payment of bills," she added. When contacted, superintendent-in-charge of the Swaroop Rani Nehru Hospital Dr ST Imam said the electricity bill of residential quarter was around Rs 12 lakh, and they were facing difficulty in its payment.
"Besides the problem of subletting, many inmates of PG Hostel are using AC illegally on the residential line," he said.
