Jayanagar complex in the dark, literally

Jayanagar complex in the dark, literally
Bescom cuts off power after BMP fails to pay bills
The Times of India

Bangalore: Jayanagar’s popular landmark and south Bangalore’s favourite haunt — the 4th Block complex — bore a pall of gloom on Tuesday.
A power cut in the complex slowed down action in the bustling building that is home to 500-odd shops stocking everything under the sun.

The building also houses six government offices, a computerised railway booking centre, south Bangalore’s Regional Transport Office, tutorial centres, restaurants, and even beauty parlours.

Why the shutdown? A long-pending power bill of a whopping Rs 7 lakh. Bescom managing director Gonal Bheemappa said the bill had not been cleared despite repeated reminders, leaving them with no choice but to pull the plug.

The BMP is responsible for collecting individual power bills and pay the full amount. Sources say several offices in the complex had delayed payment to the BMP.

Leaving aside the war-of-words, it wasn’t a cheerful day for the shopkeepers and officegoers working in the complex. Even the two rickety elevators — the sole means of transport between the nine floors for the 1 lakhplus traffic of people — weren’t functioning. The RTO was probably the worst hit. With no power generators, offices on the third, fourth and seventh floors suffered since the employees had to commute between the floors. Needless to add, the computer systems in officers did not function too.

Frequent power cuts have known to plague the complex and for the shopkeepers, the solution was generator sets. Each shop has acquired its own generator and since most of them run on kerosene, the result was a din of buzzing motors and air that loaded with carbon monoxide.

No wonder, the BMP rushed with the payment and cleared the dues by afternoon. And by around 8 pm, power was restored to the complex.

Jayanagar corporator N Nagaraj had told TOI earlier that the complex will invest Rs 50 lakh for a new generator system, where each floor will be able to draw power collectively.
But until that comes about, the complex has pay up its power bills on time.