Nearly 4.6 lakh electricity consumers under Karnataka’s Gruha Jyothi scheme have yet to complete verification in the Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Corporation (CESC) region, with October 31 the final date to submit pending documents and retain the benefit of up to 200 free units of electricity.
CESC said around 19% of the 24,29,607 consumers identified for verification across Mysuru, Mandya, Hassan, Kodagu and Chamarajanagar districts were yet to submit the required details as of October 26. The corporation has asked consumers who were missed during the door-to-door survey to approach their respective CESC subdivision offices before the deadline.
CESC officials said details of 19,67,919 consumers had been collected, representing 81% progress in the verification exercise. The process was launched to confirm the eligibility and household details of consumers receiving the Gruha Jyothi subsidy, which provides up to 200 units of free electricity to eligible households.
Several consumers could not be verified during the survey because their houses were locked or vacant. CESC’s progress report recorded 2,36,380 locked houses and 95,681 vacant houses. A further 7,041 cases were rejected. Altogether, the corporation has recorded details in 23,07,021 cases, including verified consumers, locked houses, vacant houses and rejected cases. This represents 94.95% of the total consumers identified for verification.
Consumers who were not available during the survey or could not provide information for other reasons have been asked to submit the required documents at their local CESC subdivision office. The utility has not specified in the supplied report which documents must be carried, and consumers may need to contact their subdivision office before visiting to confirm the requirements.
Verification progress varied across the five districts. Kodagu recorded the highest progress at 82.89%, followed by Mandya at 81.78%, Hassan at 81.72%, Chamarajanagar at 80.90% and Mysuru at 79.87%. The figures show that Mysuru, the largest district in the CESC service area by the number of identified consumers, remained below the regional average in the door-to-door exercise.
CESC said electricity bills of consumers whose details had already been submitted would carry the remark “GJ Surveyed” this month. The remark is intended to indicate that the consumer’s details have been captured in the verification process.
The October 31 deadline places the immediate responsibility on consumers whose homes were locked, vacant or otherwise missed during the survey to approach CESC directly. The corporation’s warning concerns continuation of the Gruha Jyothi benefit, but the supplied report does not state how pending cases will be treated after the deadline or whether any extension will be considered.
