With rains lashing the city of Bengaluru, power cuts have become a new normal for its residents. And this has Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Ltd (Bescom) officials trying in vain to address the complaints of residents.
As complaints flood the Bescom helpline number 1912, the power utility has decided to introduce more helpline numbers to cater to the rising number of calls.
On Friday, Karnataka Energy Minister DK Shivkumar said that 12 mobile helpline numbers would be introduced from Saturday in all the four divisions in the city. Over the next two months, 15 additional lines will be introduced to the 1912 helpline number, which presently has 30 lines, the minister added.
The New Indian Express quoted the minister as saying that every time it rained in the city in the past two weeks, Bescom has been receiving at least 20,000 distress calls each time.
An unnamed Bescom official told the newspaper that while, on an average, they used to get 6000 calls a day, the number had drastically inflated due to trees falling on the electricity lines.
According to a report published by The Times of India on Wednesday, Bescom received 27,000 calls on Monday alone, of which, not more than 12,000 calls were attended to.
Bescom mobile helpline numbers
East Circle
94808 16108/09/10
West Circle
94808 16111/12/13
North Circle
94808 16114/15/16
South Circle
94808 16117/18/19