Smart meters live but consumers unable to access data in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar
Tired of too many ads? go ad free now
These were expected to update consumers on their real-time energy consumption and analyse power consumption data. A consumer from the N-11 sector said he received a message that read 'no data found' when he tried to access his power consumption trends using the official mobile app of MSEDCL. "The MSEDCL replaced my old meter with a smart meter a few weeks ago. While the new devices are projected as modern ones, these so-called smart meters fail to share hourly, daily and monthly power consumption analysis," he said, preferring anonymity.According to official data, over 56,000 ToD meters have been installed by MSEDCL in the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar zone so far. Leftist leader Abhay Taksal, who has launched a public campaign against the new meter installations, said the unavailability of desired data exposes MSEDCL's tall claims. "The installation of smart meters is a strategy to offer benefits to corporate players at the cost of the interest of consumers. Govt must roll back its plan of replacing existing meters," he said.When contacted, Pawankumar Kachhot, MSEDCL chief engineer of the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar zone, said the private agency concerned was developing a mobile application to access the data concerned. "The mobile application is under development. Once developed and made available to public, consumers will be able to access consumption trends," he told TOI. The MSEDCL top brass said they had no idea why the official mobile app of the state power utility has provided the option of accessing the desired data separately.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
&w=3840&q=100)
First Post
8 hours ago
- First Post
'Joote khaane bhej diya...': What Pakistan's DGMO told Indian counterpart during Kargil ceasefire talks
When the then-Pakistani DGMO came to Attari to meet his Indian counterpart during the Kargil War, he said something so unusual that it reflected Pakistan's defeat in the 1999 conflict. Here's what he said. read more As India commemorates Kargil Vijay Divas, a retired senior Army officer recalled what happened when the then-Pakistani DGMO arrived in India to meet his Indian counterpart. As Pakistani troops started to struggle in early July 1999, then-PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee called his Pakistani counterpart, Nawaz Sharif, and asked him to send Pakistan's Director General Military Operations (DGMO) for talks with the Indian DGMO. In the meeting, India aimed to convey to Pakistan the plan for their full pull-back beyond the Line of Control (LoC). For the talks, then-Indian DGMO Lt Gen Nirmal Chander Vij (retd), accompanied by then-deputy DGMO Brig Mohan Bhandari (retd) to meet Pakistani DGMO Lt Gen Tauqir Zia (retd). STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD However, what was interesting was the fact that the Pakistani DGMO came all alone for the meeting at Attari. This meeting was significant since this was the first time the two DGMOs came face to face during the Kargil War. While speaking to The Times of India, Bhandari recalled a peculiar interaction with Zia. 'Miyan Saab ne joote khane ke liye akele bhej diya' Bhandari, who later retired as Lt Gen and now lives in Ranikhet, recalled that he was surprised seeing Lt Gen Zia arriving alone, saying it was 'something highly unusual for DGMO meetings.' 'As per the schedule, we left Delhi at 6.30 am on July 11 for Amritsar, where we reached around 8.15 am. From there, we boarded a chopper to Attari. After reaching the meeting spot, when I went to check on the Pakistani side, I saw Zia standing by himself, smoking, his cap askew,' the retired Indian Lt. General told TOI on Saturday. 'As I met him earlier about 3-4 times during talks on Siachen, I asked him, 'Ye kya hai Tauqir… akele? (How come you are alone?)' He replied, 'Kya karun? Miyan Saab ne joote khane ke liye akele bhej diya'(What could I have done? Miyan Saab sent me alone to take the blows),' he averred, adding that 'Miyan Saab' was a reference to then-Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif. Bhandari mentioned that the protocol did not allow the Indian DGMO to meet his Pakistani counterpart without any accompanying delegation. 'I asked Zia to call over personnel from the Pak Rangers, stationed at the border, for formality's sake. Three officers joined him. But despite that, we deliberately made them wait for 10 minutes as we all were angry with what they did in Kargil amid the ongoing peace talks between the two sides.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The war could have concluded before Bhandari told TOI that the meeting between the two DGMOs went on for three hours, during which the Indian DGMO gave them 'directions on the Dos and Don'ts while fully retreating beyond LoC.' 'Zia and his three associates just took notes without saying anything, for obvious reasons as they were on the losing side… when our DGMO asked if they had any doubt, Zia just replied, 'No doubt',' Bhandari revealed. Bhandari recalled that one of the conditions laid by Lt Gen Nirmal Chander Vij, the veteran who served for nearly 40 years in the Army, was that the Pakistanis were not supposed to lay landmines while retreating from Indian territory, but they 'did the exact opposite'. 'Against the accepted conditions, they continued to attack our troops in various skirmishes, and we decided to teach them a lesson by carrying out heavy shelling on their posts across LoC from July 15 to 24. It was only then that they fully pulled back, and the conflict officially ended on July 25. If they had accepted the conditions in the first place without further violence, it would have ended by July 16 or 17,' Bhandari recalled.
Economic Times
10 hours ago
- Economic Times
Delhi Jal Board struggles to recover ₹63,000 crore in unpaid dues
The Delhi Jal Board faces a severe financial crisis with ₹63,000 crore in unpaid dues, primarily from government departments and agencies like Indian Railways and Delhi Police. This impacts DJB's operations and infrastructure development. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads The Delhi Jal Board (DJB) is grappling with an unprecedented financial burden, with unpaid dues amounting to ₹63,000 crore, a majority of which are owed by government departments, The Times of India per DJB records reviewed by ToI, Delhi government departments owe ₹33,295 crore, while central government agencies account for ₹29,723.37 crore in outstanding dues. Among the latter, Indian Railways alone owes ₹21,530 crore, followed by Delhi Police with ₹6,097 crore. The Municipal Corporation of Delhi also has pending payments of ₹26,147 crore.A senior DJB official told ToI that despite multiple reminders to the defaulters, the board has been unable to recover the dues, severely impacting its day-to-day operations, maintenance, and infrastructure expansion. Officials acknowledged that the matter now demands urgent to the burden, commercial users owe ₹66,000 crore, while domestic consumers have pending dues of ₹15,000 crore, according to the data cited by clarified that under the current plan, relief from inflated water bills will only be extended to domestic users, not commercial ones or government agencies. The problem of pending water and sewerage charges has persisted since 2012-13, the report Water Minister Parvesh Verma told ToI:'Water is a shared responsibility and ensuring its uninterrupted supply requires collective effort. Resolving these financial bottlenecks will significantly strengthen our capacity to maintain and improve the city's water infrastructure. We are committed to working with all stakeholders to ensure timely solutions in the best interest of every Delhi resident.'Sources cited by ToI said the reasons for the unpaid bills varied widely — some departments dispute being charged commercial rates, while others question the accuracy of billing for unmetered or unknown water connections. Hospitals and government departments have objected to being billed as commercial users. The Railways, in particular, claimed that it didn't have as many water connections as DJB was billing it for, and many of those were Delhi government is now considering a full waiver of late payment surcharges for domestic users. Many people reportedly stopped paying their bills due to inflated amounts caused by faulty or estimated meter readings, bills generated during Covid lockdowns when homes were vacant, or mounting arrears that escalated due to repeated non-payment and accruing penalties. A DJB official admitted that non-payment of disputed bills triggered a spiral of late fees, increasing the amount due officials clarified to ToI that no relief is planned for commercial users or government departments, and complaints related to false meter readings are also outside the scope of the waiver. In October and November 2022, DJB's online portal reportedly received over 10,000 complaints about wrong billing.A proposed one-time settlement scheme, promised last year by the previous government, failed to take address future disputes, DJB plans to replace existing water meters with smart metering devices, which officials believe will eliminate billing errors. The current system, which relies on meter readers submitting physical images, often results in outdated or inaccurate readings, eventually leading to erroneous and inflated inputs from ToI
Time of India
10 hours ago
- Time of India
How a Bengaluru man tried to dodge tax by registering his Ferrari & Mercedes in other states but ended up paying Rs 1 crore in dues
Live Events (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel A businessman based in Bengaluru has landed in trouble for trying to dodge Karnataka's high road tax by registering his luxury cars in other states. According to a TOI report, he has now been made to pay nearly Rs 1 crore in pending taxes after a transport department department recovered Rs 61.9 lakh in tax for his Ferrari 812 Superfast, which was registered in Jharkhand, and Rs 37 lakh for his Mercedes-Benz, which was registered in Puducherry. Officials found that both cars were regularly being used in Karnataka, even though they were registered elsewhere.'He lives and works in Bengaluru. The Ferrari, which costs about Rs 5 crore, was registered in Jharkhand with just Rs 14 lakh paid as tax. If he had registered it here, the tax would have been close to Rs 1 crore,' a senior official from the transport department told per the rules, if a car registered outside Karnataka is used in the state for more than 12 months, the owner must pay Karnataka's road tax. 'He didn't follow this rule,' the official March, the department sent the businessman a notice asking him to pay the dues. He first claimed the Ferrari had only come to Bengaluru for servicing in January and would be returned to Jharkhand within three months.'But we gathered proof that both cars had been used here regularly for over a year. On Friday, we showed him the evidence and warned of legal action. He then agreed to settle the matter and gave cheques for the dues,' the official is the second such case in recent days. Earlier this week, the department collected Rs 40 lakh in tax from another businessman who had bought second-hand Rolls-Royce cars that once belonged to actors Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan. Those vehicles were also running in Karnataka without paying local from TOI
