HP: Handicapped woman given charge to deposit electricity bill of 13,000 consumers

Mandi (Himachal Pradesh): The administration of Mandi district, Chief Minister Jairam Thakur's hometown, seems to have either become unbridled or has passed the emptiness of emotions.

Here the officials of the electricity department entrusted the responsibility of depositing the electricity bill, during the summer season, on the shoulders of a Handicapped woman.

The woman, Kunta Devi, cannot count or write the amount of the bill. So her daughter Jahan helps her to count the cash.

At the same time, her handicapped husband helps people coming to pay their bills, by asking them to stand in the queue so that social distancing is maintained.

Devi has been assigned this task in Gohar Electricity Division of Mandi. There are close to 13 thousand consumers here. It is difficult for this woman to collect cash for so many bills.

As per sources, there is also a lot of resentment among the power consumers about this.

There are 273 consumers under the Ganesh Chowk counter of Sub Division Gohar. 223 of which deposited cash over the counter. During this, an amount of more than two lakh rupees was collected.

Devi has a physical disability of 83 per cent in both her hands. She does all the work in the office, she is finding very tough to do the field duty.

Department sometimes drops in a government jeep or truck, but most of the time she has to be dependent on other people for the help.

She is unable to climb on the government truck. She said that to go to the field, one has to spend Rs 300 for a taxi. One also has to take a set of table and chair from the office to place a counter in the field.

It is to be noted that she has also requested for an assistant from the department.

Speaking over this the Executive Engineer of the Electricity Department, Narendra Kumar Thakur said that a female employee is a disabled person. An assistant has been ordered to accompany her. An order to resolve the problem has been issued to SDO and the problem will be resolved soon.