Daijiworld Media Network - Shivamogga (LDS)

Shivamogga, Jun 8: Power cuts are not a surprise in our country. The rural areas have been mutely suffering with this without any respite since time immemorial. However, a man from Mangote village here refused to stay mum and decided to deal with it his own way. In his peculiar solution of sorts for the power cut menace, M Hanumanthappa, visits the nearby MESCOM office with a mixie and a jar in hand, along with a couple of cell phone chargers. And he does it everyday!

He gets a drop from someone or the other frequently, and at other times, he walks to the office and grinds the masala that is required for his kitchen for that particular day. Alongside, he makes dual use of the opportunity by getting his phones charged as well. All of this happens during the day and no official at the office opposes this routine of Hanumanthappa. This routine is being well followed since a good span of 10 months now.

At the very beginning, Hanumanthappa had submitted a requisition to the MESCOM and every official concerned he could to get uninterrupted power supply to his house. Currently, his family receives power supply only for 3 – 4 hours in a day. Several months of requests, quarrels and even follow ups by him went in vain. His family dwells in faint light, while his neighbours have electricity supply. He had also requested the local public representative and MLA, but to no avail.

Fed up of the apathy, an enraged Hanumanthappa called a senior MESCOM official one day to follow up on the issue. The conversation blew up into an intense argument between the two. “How do you think we should grind masalas and cook food at home? How should we charge our phones? Those are basic necessities. I cant go to my neighbour’s house everyday for this”, reacted an agitated Hanumanthappa. “Then go to the MESCOM office and grind your masala,” said the officer in a harsh tone.

And that was it. Hanumanthappa took the advice quite literally and he began travelling to the MESCOM office on a daily basis and thus began his MESCOM masala story. Since it was based on senior official's word, the staff there didn’t oppose this. When asked about it, a junior engineer of MESCOM, Vishwanath told the media that owing to the heavy downpour, IP sets couldn’t be charged. Hanumanthappa could get temporary power supply by drawing an electric line from the Mallapura distribution centre. Although he promised that Hanumantahppa’s house would get a power connection in a month’s time.

The moment this incident came to light and the pictures and videos of M Hanumanthappa got circulated all across social media, senior MESCOM officials woke up and personally took to solve the issue. Around 10 junior staff are under fire for allowing a person to use government office for his personal work. But Hanumanthappa hasn’t received power supply to his house yet but the, the MESCOM masala trips have stopped for now.