TURA, June 11 - The Block Development Office (BDO) of Gambegre in West Garo Hills has been without electricity for over two years now after power to the office was disconnected by the Meghalaya Electricity Corporation Limited (MeCL).
The lack of electricity in the Block office, a compound where several offices for the Block are situated, like SBI, ICDS, amongst others, has resulted in employees visiting office once a week, thereby making life difficult for the citizens.
Incidentally, the Gambegre Block is the best performing Block in Garo Hills region and the third best overall in the State. The Block had achieved a total of 86 mandays under MGNREGS last year � done sans electricity.
�About two years ago, electricity to the BDO office was disconnected by MeECL after pending bills ran into lakhs of rupees. The BDO office made a payment of Rs 1.5 lakh but the electricity was still not restored as the bill was huge. Although there is a generator installed in the premises, high costs to run the same has become a big hurdle in running it.
When questioned on the lack of electricity in the BDO office, DC of West Garo Hills, Pravin Bakshi said that the matter was being looked into and a report from the BDO, Rita Marak, has been sought.
Not surprisingly, most Block offices and even the office of DC have pending dues to MeECL.
