Gurgaon residents pay Rs.31 lakh fine to power discom

GURGAON - The residents of DLF phase-4 in this satellite town of the national capital Sunday paid a fine of Rs.31 lakh to a Haryana power distribution company as the power supply of three multi-storey apartment buildings was cut Saturday for unauthorised use of electricity.

About 5,000 residents of Regency Park, Hamilton Tower and Windsor Tower had to live with the power backup systems as the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) disconnected their power supply Saturday evening. The power could only be restored Sunday afternoon after the residents paid the fine.

“It was difficult to arrange so much money in a short time but we have an emergency fund. Twelve hours of backup cost us Rs.one and half lakh and the residents are totally dependent on lifts. We have cut the supply going to the school (Sri Ram School),” said Brigadier Kamal Sood, a resident of Regency Park.

“We have three 25-storey residential apartments and a school in the campus and got the power connection from DHBVN some 10 years ago. The connections for domestic and commercial use were not separate and the school authority had applied for a separate connection six years ago but DHBVN asked them to use the power from residential connection,” Saurabh Prakash, a resident of Regency Park II said.

“Six months ago, the DHBVN slapped a fine of Rs.31 lakh on us,” he added.