The Mangalore Electricity Supply Company (MESCOM), that caters to the electricity requirements of Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Shivamogga and Chickmagaluru districts, is busy strengthening power supply infrastructure and enhancing manpower.
Speaking to presspersons on the eve of inauguration of the Rs. 25 crore, 61,000 sq. ft corporate office at Bejai here, MESCOM Managing Director Chikkananjappa said the company has recently started six new sub-divisions. They are meant to respond immediately to the grievances of the consumers and have come up at Sringeri, Kumsi, Shivamogga (second one), Kukke Subrahmanya, Tallur and Mulki.
While 32 sub-divisions are equipped with an emergency response team with vehicles and personnel as of now, all sub-divisions would come to have one in the near future, he said.
Centralised system
Mr. Chikkananjappa said the MESCOM is in the process of setting up a centralised grievance redressal system to address consumer woes. Though 1912, the centralised power grievance redressal system, is functional under Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM), the same is yet to be implemented in MESCOM.
The system would be in place by June 15 or latest by July first week and the office would be located in Kadri in the city. The process would be outsourced and the consumer would be intimated about the action within a specified timeframe, he said.
Recruitment
MESCOM was able to convince the government that computers cannot replace broken electricity poles or lay cables and got sanction for recruitment of linesmen. About 300 assistant and 1,990 junior linesmen have already been recruited, strengthening the base of the company, he said.
The company is in the process of recruiting another 500 personnel, including assistant engineers, junior engineers, assistant accounts officers, junior assistants and graduate assistants. More than 1.09 lakh applications are received online for these posts, he said.
Climb the pole to register attendance
MESCOM has devised a new method to register the attendance of its newly recruited linesmen so that they remain punctual and attentive. While they would be on probation for three years, they would have to mark the attendance by climbing an electricity pole daily.
Mr. Chikkananjappa said one plain electricity pole has been erected in each sub-station and on arriving for duty, the newly recruited linesmen have to climb the pole to register the attendance. This, Mr. Chikkananjappa said, is aimed at curbing the ego among the linesmen, who would over the years, would not even hear the directions of superiors.
