Mangalore, Apr 3: The peasants fraternity including electricity consumers will picket the managing director’s office of public utility provider Mangalore Electricity Supply Company (MESCOM) here on Monday April 8, to protest against the erratic power supply, hiking of tariff for every e months and condemn the highhandedness of MESCOM officers on poor peasants, said Karnataka state Raita Sangh state vice president Vijay Hegde.
Addressing the media persons during a press meet here on Wednesday April 3, Vijay Hegde said that the undivided Dakshina Kannad district never faced dearth of electricity since the British rulers set up hydel power plant at Jog Falls about 110 years ago. It was supplying uninterrupted electricity to undivided Dakshina Kannada district and Shimoga. Udupi Power Corporation Limited (UPCL) set up a thermal power plant in Nandikoor of Udupi district has worsened the situation, because electricity generated here is being transmitted to main grids of Hassan and Bangalore by laying high tension cables in the dense forest of Western Ghats endangering the eco-environment. It has caused injustice to coastal residents, while MESCOM in a bid to show their profitability did not buy energy from UPCL, alleged Hegde.
‘There are few people who oppose the UPCL power plant that has been causing havoc on fertile fields and a health hazard,’ said Hegde. He condemned MESCOM officers and workmen who misbehave with farmers by forcibly entering into their houses to detect any undue connections. MESCOM has been laying high tension towers on farmers’ lands endangering their lives and crops besides livestock. The atrocities of MESCOM workmen are on the rise who file false cases on farmers and imprison them, added Hegde.
Udupi district Raita Sangh secretary Sasidar Shetty, Dakshina Kannada district vice president Harsha Kumar Hegde, Sudat Jain, Ravikiran Punaccha and Rupesh Rai were present at the press meet.
