Madhya Pradesh farmer gets power bill of Rs 76 crore

Bhopal: A small farmer in a Chhattisgarh district has received the electricity bill of Rs 76.73 crore for the month of September, leaving him and his family members shell shocked.

Ram Prasad, a resident of district headquarters town of Mahasamund in east Chhattisgarh was slapped with Rs 76.73 crore-electricity bill which was later revised to Rs 1820, officials of Chhattisgarh state electricity department said.

“I use electricity for domestic purpose only. I had been spending sleepless nights after I got the bill”, Ram said.

“It was a technical error. Ram Prasad’s bill was changed on August four leading to the error. The last reading of the previous meter was not taken into account while calculating the units spent by the consumer, causing the inflated figure in the bill”, he said.

Locals have earlier received inflated electricity bills, causing strong resentment among them.

Two clerks were suspended in connection with the incident.

“It appears to be a mischief”, an officer of the department told this newspaper unwilling to be quoted.