Karnataka man goes to electricity office to grind Masala after officials fail to restore power

Karnataka man goes to electricity office to grind Masala after officials fail to restore power

Mangalore Today News Network / News18

Shivamogga, June 08, 2022: Power disruption and load shedding are not new in our country. The rural folks bear the brunt of this quite a lot. But, here is a man who actually found a solution- a rather bizarre one, but a solution nonetheless. M Hanumanthappa, a resident of Mangote village in Shivamogga district visits the nearby MESCOM office almost every day. One can see him holding a mixie and a jar, a couple of cell phone chargers and going to MESCOM office almost daily. At times, someone drops him in their vehicle. Otherwise, he walks upto there, uses their electricity and grinds the masala that is needed in his kitchen for that day. He also charges his multiple phones there and returns with all his apparatus. All this happens in broad daylight and none of the officials present in that office object to this.

 

This has been going on for around 10 months now. Initially, Hanumanthappa submitted a requisition to MESCOM and every official concerned he could think of to give proper power supply to his house. Currently, his family can enjoy a power supply for a maximum of 3-4 hours a day. Months of requests, quarrels and follow-ups didn’t help at all. His family is literally living in the dark while all is well with his neighbours. He even requested the local public representative and MLA, nothing worked so far.

Karnataka Man Goes to Electricity Office to Grind Masala after Officials Fail to Restore Power

Power disruption and load shedding are not new in our country. The rural folks bear the brunt of this quite a lot. But, here is a man who actually found a solution- a rather bizarre one, but a solution nonetheless. M Hanumanthappa, a resident of Mangote village in Shivamogga district visits the nearby MESCOM office almost every day. One can see him holding a mixie and a jar, a couple of cell phone chargers and going to MESCOM office almost daily. At times, someone drops him in their vehicle. Otherwise, he walks upto there, uses their electricity and grinds the masala that is needed in his kitchen for that day. He also charges his multiple phones there and returns with all his apparatus. All this happens in broad daylight and none of the officials present in that office object to this.

This has been going on for around 10 months now. Initially, Hanumanthappa submitted a requisition to MESCOM and every official concerned he could think of to give proper power supply to his house. Currently, his family can enjoy a power supply for a maximum of 3-4 hours a day. Months of requests, quarrels and follow-ups didn’t help at all. His family is literally living in the dark while all is well with his neighbours. He even requested the local public representative and MLA, nothing worked so far.

Fed up with all this, a furious Hanumanthappa called a senior MESCOM official one day and questioned him about it. The conversation turned into a heated argument between the two. “How do you think we should grind masala and cook food at home? How should we charge our phones? That’s a basic necessity, I can’t go into my neighbour’s house every day for these” said Hanumanthappa. “Then go to the MESCOM office and grind your masala,” said the officer in a fit of rage.

Voila! Hanumanthappa took that advice very seriously and well, literally! He then began his daily trips to MESCOM office and so his unique journey began. Since it was their own senior official saying this, other staff didn’t object to this.

When questioned about this, the Junior Engineer of MESCOM, Vishwanath replied to the media that due to heavy rains IP sets couldn’t be charged. Hanumanthappa can get a temporary power supply by drawing an electric line from the Mallapura distribution centre. However, he promised that Hanumanthappa’s house will get a power connection within a month.

Once this event came to light and his video and images circulated all over social media, senior MESCOM officials took the matter into their hands and around 10 junior staff have been served notice to have allowed a person to use a government office for his personal work. But, Hanumanthappa hasn’t got the power supply to his house yet. But, his mixie-masala trips to MESCOM have stopped for now.