Bengaluru: Is Bescom being stepmotherly in its treatment of the poorer localities of the city, including slums? Although there is no official load-shedding in the city, people of relatively poorer localities like Gayathrinagar and Mariyappanapalya, close to upmarket Rajajinagar, Malleswaram and Subramanyanagar, complain they are having to put with at least two hours of load-shedding most days. "We often have no power between 11 am and 12 noon and 8 pm to 9 pm most days of the week. But people of nearby Malleswaram, Rajajinagar and Subramanyanagar, where the more well- to- do live don’t face any such inconvenience. We are fed up with lodging complaints,” grumbles Mr. Lakshminarayana Bhat, a small time caterer.
"When other areas have power, how can only our locality have load -shedding? We have been putting up with this for at least a month," he adds.
Several parts of West Bengaluru, which are home to slums, like Shrirampuram, Yeshwantpur, Devaiah Park and Peenya, too are suffering erratic power supply going by the locals. They are having to without for power for over two hours a day, they complain.
Bescom officials admit that the people of these areas are not imagining the discrimination. "There is more load-shedding in the poorer sections of the city," they acknowledge .” When there is load-shedding in upmarket area, people begin to protest. So they are being supplied power without interruption," claims an officer, however, refusing to come on record with his admission.
