An 85-year-old widow living in a 2BHK flat at King’s Circle received n electricity bill of more than Rs21 lakh in April 2010 from the BEST.
An 85-year-old widow living in a 2BHK flat at King’s Circle got the shock of her life when the BEST sent her an electricity bill of more than Rs21 lakh in April 2010.
Taramati Gosalia who lives with her nephew Narendra Shah, 63, got a new electric meter installed in her flat in October 2009. They received a bill of Re1 for the first month and then for three months the bill amount was zero.
Shah sought a clarification from the BEST in January 2010. He did not get any reply but in March he was charged a few hundred rupees for February. In April, he got the bill of Rs21 lakh for March. He immediately sent a complaint letter and the BEST sent an acknowledgement in June.
He said they received a bill of more than Rs6 lakh for May which was corrected in June and Rs3,382 was charged for both months. In July, Shah wrote to the mayor and top-ranking BEST officials. He did not get any reply but got a bill of more than Rs6 lakh. This time, the BEST debited Rs1,91,846 from Shah’s account through the electronic clearance system. For August, the bill was Rs1,515; for September Rs5,01,221; for October Rs5,00,861 and for November Rs5,1,510.
Neither did the BEST send any correction for these three months, nor did it deduct any money from Shah’s account. The bill amount suddenly became normal for December 2010 and January 2011. Not only this, in March 2011, the BEST bill said it owed Shah and Gosalia Rs43,41,318.
It also said that the money would be adjusted in future bills. Thereafter, they started getting normal bills with certain deductions marked as adjustments. The current balance, according to the BEST, is Rs43,39,999, Shah said.
“This is rubbish; I don’t want so much money,” he said. “Give me Rs1,91,846 that was debited from my account along with interest.” Gosalia said the BEST officials were probably high on drugs while preparing the bills. “How can they send such strange bills?” she asked.
BEST Committee member Ravi Raja said the customer care department of the electric supply division had been negligent. “The old lady brought the matter to my notice and I took it up with the higher authorities,” he said.
Om Prakash Gupta, BEST general manager, said it was clearly a data and typographical error. “This should not have gone unnoticed for so long,” he said. “We are investigating the matter and the guilty will be punished.”
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