Communication skills training for MESCOM employees after consumers complained about 'rude behavior'
Mangaluru: Managing Director of Mangaluru Electricity Supply Company (MESCOM) on Thursday, organized a public meeting at the Deputy Commissioner (DC) office, in the presence of Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) president Shambu Dayal Meena.
Several issues pertaining to MESCOM were discussed during the meeting which was attended by officials of several associations, trade unions, businessmen and others.
Snehal Rayamane, Managing Director of MESCOM, presented the yearly report of the company in details before the people and Commission’s representatives which included members HM Manjunath and HD Arun Kumar, besides president Shambu Dayal Meena, who chaired the meeting.
In the report presented by Snehal, the IAS officer shed lights on the work completed, achievements, new services initiated by the company and plans for future, while also giving a peep into the accounts of the company.
She added that hiking of tariffs were unavoidable, as the company was spending huge sum of amounts on purchasing the power, and was not generating enough funds back by selling it.
The report was followed by a session of public grievances, suggestions and feedback by the members and officials of several organizations, industrialists, trade unions and business who had come from all the four districts where the company supplies power (Dakshin Kannada, Udupi, Chickmagalur and Shimoga).
Although suggestions and feedback came in numbers, but it was the complaints and grievances that occupied a major part of the session.
Poor response rate at Customer Care Centre (CCC) helpline (though claimed to be a 24x7 active service by the MD in the report earlier), rude behavior on CCC and by the linemen, unscheduled power cuts remained on top, concerning a majority of attendees.
Taking note of all the complaints and grievances, Commission’s President Shambu Dayal Meena, referred to Snehal Rayamane and observed “The MESCOM is no doubt doing a good job, but there is a lot of room for improvement which is evident from the grievances we heard today. Look into every complaint and try and come with solutions to them”.
Senhal assured the commission of taking note of every grievances, and also committed to organize communication skills classes for the MESCOM CCC executives and other employees, who were said to be rude while conversing with the consumers.
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Israel launches first airstrike on Lebanon since ceasefire, accusing Hezbollah of breaching truce
Beirut, Nov 28: The Israeli military on Thursday said its warplanes fired on southern Lebanon after detecting Hezbollah activity at a rocket storage facility, the first Israeli airstrike a day after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took hold.
There was no immediate word on casualties from Israel's aerial attack, which came hours after the Israeli military said it fired on people trying to return to certain areas in southern Lebanon. Israel said they were violating the ceasefire agreement, without providing details. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said two people were wounded.
The back-to-back incidents stirred unease about the agreement, brokered by the United States and France, which includes an initial two-month ceasefire in which Hezbollah members are to withdraw north of the Litani River and Israeli forces are to return to their side of the border. The buffer zone would be patrolled by Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers.
On Thursday, the second day of a ceasefire after more than a year of bloody conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon's state news agency reported that Israeli fire targeted civilians in Markaba, close to the border, without providing further details. Israel said it fired artillery in three other locations near the border. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
An Associated Press reporter in northern Israel near the border heard Israeli drones buzzing overhead and the sound of artillery strikes from the Lebanese side.
The Israeli military said in a statement that “several suspects were identified arriving with vehicles to a number of areas in southern Lebanon, breaching the conditions of the ceasefire.” It said troops “opened fire toward them” and would “actively enforce violations of the ceasefire agreement.”
Israeli officials have said forces will be withdrawn gradually as it ensures that the agreement is being enforced. Israel has warned people not to return to areas where troops are deployed, and says it reserves the right to strike Hezbollah if it violates the terms of the truce.
A Lebanese military official said Lebanese troops would gradually deploy in the south as Israeli troops withdraw. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.
The ceasefire agreement announced late Tuesday ended 14 months of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that began a day after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza, when the Lebanese Hezbollah group began firing rockets, drones and missiles in solidarity.
Israel retaliated with airstrikes, and the conflict steadily intensified for nearly a year before boiling over into all-out war in mid-September. The war in Gaza is still raging with no end in sight.
More than 3,760 people were killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon during the conflict, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The fighting killed more than 70 people in Israel — over half of them civilians — as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.
Some 1.2 million people were displaced in Lebanon, and thousands began streaming back to their homes on Wednesday despite warnings from the Lebanese military and the Israeli army to stay out of certain areas. Some 50,000 people were displaced on the Israeli side, but few have returned and the communities near the northern border are still largely deserted.
In Menara, an Israeli community on the border with views into Lebanon, around three quarters of homes are damaged, some with collapsed roofs and burnt-out interiors. A few residents could be seen gathering their belongings on Thursday before leaving again.
