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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Airlines got 999 hoax bomb threats till Nov 14 this year; 256 FIRs filed: Govt
New Delhi, Nov 28: Airlines received 999 hoax bomb threats this year till November 14 and as many as 256 FIRs have been filed while guidelines have been issued by aviation security regulator BCAS for objective assessment of threats, the government said on Thursday.
In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol said a total of 1,148 hoax bomb threat messages/calls have been received since August 2022 till November 14, 2024 threatening the operations of international and domestic air travel.
While 999 threats were received by airlines during the period from January to November 14, 2024, the count stood at 122 last year and at 27 for the August-December 2022 period.
"256 FIRs have been filed since January 2024 till 14 November 2024, out of which 163 FIRs have been filed during 14 October- 14 November 2024. 12 arrests have been made in view of hoax bomb threat since January 2024 till 14 November 2024," the minister said.
The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has issued guidelines for objective assessment of threats. The indicative factor has been useful in reducing time taken by the Bomb Threat Assessment Committee (BTAC) during the decision-making process.
"Also, to reduce the overall time taken for convening BTAC to less than 5 minutes, virtual assembly of BTAC through pre-generated video link has been set up. Further, advisories for compulsory 10 per cent of secondary ladder point check-in for all flights, strict monitoring of non-scheduled flight operations, enhanced security measures and surveillance at cargo terminals were issued," Mohol said.
Further, the minister said the government is considering amending the Aircraft (Security) Rules, 2023 to put hoax threat messenger in the no-fly list.
"It is also being considered to amend Suppression of Unlawful Acts against Safety of Civil Aviation for covering Aircraft in flight as well as on ground, airport etc," he added.
