The Town Hall, which is apparently famous as a venue for various public programs in the town, has no electricity supply since past one and a half month reportedly because the town hall management has failed to pay electricity bills of around one lakh rupees. Since the functions here have to depend on generators, the cost of hosting functions has significantly gone up and the frequency of public functions have gone down. The town hall also known as Ramkrishna Rangamancha Bhawan, served as a affordable venue for the organizers, but after the electricity department acted by cutting off the power supply the organizers of public functions are finding it hard to afford the venue due to high charges.
Sub-divisional Cultural and Information department which shoulders the management of the hall has said the electricity bills of over lakh rupees are due but the revenue earned from the hall is not even sufficient to pay for the hall staffs and its maintenance. While the organizers bear electricity charges ranging up to Rs. 500 for a day’s program they now have to spend around Rs. 2000 on generators per day. This has given the organizers an impetus to opt for other halls leading to further decrease in the management’s revenue.
Speaking over the issue Sub-divisional Cultural and Information Officer Mitendra Chettri said the management had been depositing the electricity fees regularly but since the department did not issue the bills regularly this year the problem showed up. He said the electricity department had not issued bills since last May and the management ran short of fund to pay the outstanding bill together for several months. However, he added officials from the concerned departments will soon be called in for meeting to resolve the problem.
On the other hand, electricity department official Sanjiv Agarwal agreed the department had failed to conduct meter reading for nine months and that the outstanding bill for that period is Rs. 1,02,000. He added the electricity department had offered the hall management to pay the sum in six installments but owing to the non-agreement by the management the department decided to cut off the power supply.
EOI
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| Kalimpong Town Hall has no electricity |
Speaking over the issue Sub-divisional Cultural and Information Officer Mitendra Chettri said the management had been depositing the electricity fees regularly but since the department did not issue the bills regularly this year the problem showed up. He said the electricity department had not issued bills since last May and the management ran short of fund to pay the outstanding bill together for several months. However, he added officials from the concerned departments will soon be called in for meeting to resolve the problem.
On the other hand, electricity department official Sanjiv Agarwal agreed the department had failed to conduct meter reading for nine months and that the outstanding bill for that period is Rs. 1,02,000. He added the electricity department had offered the hall management to pay the sum in six installments but owing to the non-agreement by the management the department decided to cut off the power supply.
EOI
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