What Bescom Linemen get Paid

Yesterday when I browsed the Bescom website, they had a list of file names on their RTI link, but after i open each and every link and download file, I get to know that, no details are made public yet. They regret to inform that, no library is established yet. Pasting the same as is:

THE PARTICULARS OF FACILITIES AVAILABLE TO CITIZENS FOR OBTAINING INFORMATION, INCLUDING THE WORKING HOURS OF A LIBRARY OR READING ROOM, IF MAINTAINED FOR PUBLIC USE;

All the related Manuals, Regulations and other Books are available in the website. At present, there is no library or reading room maintained in BESCOM for the use of general public. Now, it is being proposed to start a library at the Corporate Office. This will go a long way in providing required information to the consumers at large to know more about the power sector in general and the activities of BESCOM in particular. The consumers visiting this office can go through the various information pertaining to the company as well as electricity sector.

 So I search the Internet even harder and, where do I get the pay details from? Their own advertisements, calling people to apply for Assistant Linemen.
http://www.freejobalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/English-Notification-BESCOM-Assistant-Lineman-Posts1.pdf
 It was posted in October 2014. I get to see, that they have posts solely for Bescom, Karnataka few for Bescom Hyderabad-Karnataka region.
Then I go about checking the pay scale offered. I get this string of characters.
"7950-150-8100-190-9050-240-10250-300-11750-360-16790."
Could not make a head or tail of it right. Neither could I. I could only understand that beginner basic pay for Assistant Linemen was Rs. 7950. So I get searching and I hit upon a perfect website salarystructure.in. They give very detailed explanation in their article How to read and understand pay scale.
So, here goes the explanation, beginning with Basic pay of 7950 with an yearly increment of 150. So, next year, basic becomes 8100 to which the increment given is 190 each year. But amount 9050 is reached only after 5 years. So lineman has to work for 5 years with his salary incrementing in steps of Rs. 190/- after which, basic becomes 9050. After this year, the lineman is given increment of 240. Lineman is paid this same increment amount for 5 more years, after which the basic becomes Rs. 10250.
So in order to reach the Rs. 16790 basic pay, lineman should have served 35(1+5+5+5+5+14) long years to the Bescom.
Personally, I do not think they live that long.

Now coming to the pay scale an AE or Assistant Engineer(Electricals) gets. I got this from their notification seeking application for Assistant engineers in Electrical and Civil and Junior engineer for Civil. This was dated September 19th 2014.
http://www.freejobalert.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Notification-BESCOM-JE-Asst-Engineer-Other-Posts.pdf
The pay scale given is
18380-510-18990-570-20600-620-23080-700-25180-760-28220-850-30770-920-32610
Now, the pay scale offered is much higher than the linemen. Basic pay offered is more than ten times for AE,  while increments are higher five times, when compared to Assistant Lineman.

I just hope allowances and covers provided to the Linemen make up to the discrepancy. I will study the allowances part and write a post tomorrow. Its too big to write in one post.

I wonder, What if everybody gets educated well and becomes an AE, where will we get people to do the important work of restoring power to houses. I really wonder!!!

One more Bescom Lineman Casualty

Extract from Deccan Herald epaper
Deccan Herald
Saturday 15 November 2014
News updated at 2:31 PM IST
Bengaluru, Nov 15, 2014, DHNS
Lineman falls to death
A Bescom lineman fell to his death from a 15-foot electricity pole at the United Telecom factory premises on Graphite India Road near Mahadevapura police station limits on Thursday. The victim is Muniraju, 43, from Maragondanahalli.
Muniraju and two others from Bescom (Mahadevapura office) went to the spot to attend to a complaint. It was a high-tension wire and they went there only after obtaining line clearance (disruption in power supply). Minor shocks made him lose balance and he fell to the ground.

Above data was present on this link http://www.deccanherald.com/content/441674/girl-ends-life-fight-sibling.html. Its a pity that a suicide and accident of Bescom lineman was clubbed so that at first go, you will not even find this information, unless you click the complete news item.

This death showcases that, no safety equipment are provided to the linemen. The lineman who came to attend our case had a helmet (with no belt). Such helmets are useless when the lineman slips and falls head on, because they are not basically for protection.

Most sarcastic point is, the officers seated comfortably in their cabins, who attend phone calls and talk with customers, or staff (AE) who supervise the work (without moving out of their place in office), are paid more than the risk taking linemen. In my next post, I will divulge details of pay scale and allowances they are entitled to. This document is also available on Bescom website.

Kudos to Bescom Linemen Again

I am glad to inform all who were following this post, that problem that persisted with electricity outage was resolved completely. This time again, all the higher officials could not understand why I was making a fuss, when electricity was restored in the morning itself. I had to keep explaining them it was only temporary, this problem was not completely resolved to which the AEE asks me, what is temporary and what is permanent solution. I said your linemen took pity on us, and did a patch up repair job so that my water supply is not hit. I could not use my electric water filter nor could I fill my overhead tanks because power supply got disrupted yesterday evening itself.
The linemen came and so did the rain, they had a very broken patched up wooden ladder to support their climb. I was stunned they called it safety ladder. Unfortunately I could not click its picture. They waited for rain to subside, but to no avail, finally they traced the problem was due to line clubbing and said they will need 10mm lead wires measuring 2m to finish the job. I asked them to get it and finish the job once and for all.
Finally they completed this dangerous task by climbing the fragile wooden ladder, adeptly multitasking with ease. Linemen requested that I do not click their pictures. They did not do anything less than a circus feat. He climbed the pole like an athlete pole climber and attended wires with single hand(thank god they get to request power off during such repairs), holding the poles with other hand and two feet. God I was praying that this job finishes without casualties.
How many times have you seen linemen ignore all lurking dangers and climb with so much agility for few bucks. I will always pray for linemen and keep posting articles daily on my blog. Will surely want BESCOm to take note of their plight. I would not be comfortable if I get to learn that a lineman died fixing my line, so that I could use my cooler.
Humanity survives and saves you, only if you save and let it survive.

Why I Pity Bescom Linemen

Bangalore W2 subdivision
Yesterday evening 13 November 2014,  6pm I witnessed huge amount of rain and firework in front of my house. Fireworks that were coming out of electric pole connected with street light. unfortunately our mains line is also connected to the same pole. with fireworks going strong, the fluctuations in current also gained momentum, I feared our appliances safety and switched off important appliances even though I had stabilizer to every appliance. Then came the storm, lights went out, and to my surprise, electricity was out in our house only. This had happened earlier this month, when the same lineman had come and done a temporary work so that electricity is restored.
Then began our woes, We called every helpline we could get from net, from other people, but calls went unanswered or they informed us that their duty was done for that day. until 8:30 our phone calls continued. Our UPS started to give away, and we had to grope around the house because street light right in front our house alone was out. 1912, was giving busy tone, all landline numbers published on the bescom website were real waste. At 8:30 a lady took our call on 1912, and we had temporary relief as she consoled us saying our complaint will be attended that day itself. We particularly told her to send the ladder along with linemen, because the pole is quite high to reach and needs a safety ladder. We waited for very long, but no lineman called.
I resolved to fight out this issue first thing in the morning because I was too tired, and i thought so might be the linemen. I prayed for everybody in trouble and slept.
Morning I faced lot of issues, and I realized we depend completely on electricity. Rain and clouds since three days had depleted the hot water in solar geyser. With no power, all my work got hampered and delayed. At 9:30 a phone call from a person who told he was calling from Bescom said, he is sending linemen, to which I told him to send along safety ladder. He said OK and cut the call. At 10:30 we are informed that two linemen are coming to attend our complaint. I remind them to bring the ladder again. They come without ladder, and ask if We have a ladder. Then began our woes all over again. We made phone calls to the AE, help line and every other person we could get hold of. We were told, ladder's on the way. At 11:40AM the linemen pitied us and tried to do the temporary work to restore power, as they had to attend many other complaints. They climbed walls and used iron stairs over the electric pole. I was so worried about their safety.
Because they are helpful and understand the woes of a consumer, they do their best even without thinking about their own safety. Henceforth, I will always remember the two linemen in my prayers. I took a picture of them working in dangerous situation and they were like, Please madam, do not post it anywhere, we will be scolded for not wearing safety gears, but we are not provided one with.

I really pity them. They work very hard so that we cool ourselves in ACs, we cook our food on time, we go to office on time and stay comfortably. But what do they get in return??

Please save the linemen. Lets join hands and raise our voice and seek the Bescom to provide safety equipment to linemen. Its high time, we take notice of the lives we push towards danger, just to ensure we do not face inconvenience.

Do you get such calls?

It is quite strange that whenever a woman shares her mobile number anywhere, she is bound to get calls from nasty callers who want to talk dirty or simply kill time when troubling a woman. It happens to me all the time. Whenever I happen to share my number at some restaurant in their feedback form or when I register with my mobile number(recently I registered with aquaguard for lodging my complaint) I get such calls. Henceforth I have decided to share the numbers I get these calls from. Since few days I saw missed calls from unknown numbers and today I got one such nasty call from 9652925073.
It is an airtel number near vinukonda-darsi road, Boppudavari palem. Traced it on mobile tracker. I will surely find out much more details, if the calls continue. For all women who get bugged similarly. There is help available, but we need to search right.

Auaguard Solved My Problem Finally

Beginning with the disclaimer notice. My blog is not used for affiliate marketing nor does it contain links to other websites. Coming to the problem with my Aquaguard. The same technician, Mr. Girish, whom I called yesterday, called me around 11 AM saying he is coming, to rectify the problem that was caused after yesterday's ordeal to find the minuscule chunk of graphite from the disintegrated candle. One of the valves that connected the pipes between two candles was not screwed to its full capacity. Mr. Girish traced the problem instantly and set to work. Within half an hour the problem was rectified.
I requested Mr. Girish to stay until I check all aspects to avoid calling back again. After my thorough inspection for leaks, water color, odor and taste, I thanked him for coming today as promised. May be not on time, but the important aspect here is, he called before he started, which was very professional on his part. I would like to congratulate Eureka Forbes/ Aquaguard/ TATA for hiring such professional technicians as well. I only pray that every customer is treated the same way, with their first complaint itself. Delaying complaint addressal will only cause frustration among customers. I understood that in order to be heard You should be well connected socially, especially on social networks.

Problem handled by Aquaguard or Eureka Forbes technician

I use my blog to voice my opinion on a certain product or company. I do not use this blog for affiliate marketing neither do I link it to other websites.
Coming to the point now, My Aquaguard iNOVA model had been serviced by two technicians named, Mr. Girish and Mr. Venkatesh who arrived at my home around 6:30PM. They worked very hard to pin point the fault that was obstructing the water flow. After grueling work for more than an hour, they could trace it and rectify the problem by 7:40PM.
After all the pain I went through for two weeks, this is a welcome relief. But some other minor problem surfaced soon after they left. It seems Mr. Girish did not tighten all the valves in a hurry, because the water was leaking from the unit. Also, the water from Aquaguard was little yellow in color, as opposed to being clear. I called him as soon as I noticed the problem. It was 8PM and he said, he was on his way home and can make it only tomorrow morning, which is, 7th July 2014.
I only hope this problem is not left unattended to for few more weeks.

Aquaguard's Standard Response - Sorry for the Delay

After I read the posts on Facebook page of Aquaguard/TATA/Eureka Forbes, I understood that my problem will never be resolved, at least not until its time to renew my AMC contract which is only next year this time. Hence I decided to post articles which will bring few facts to light.
It is surprising that many do not know TATA or Aquaguard or Eureka Forbes are all the same. Many were not delivered their product even after payment. One of the customers was made to wait for ten days without any response. Other customer was not assigned a customer ID and hence they do not have any AMC contract paper with them.
Our model has become outdated now which is why our loss is only few thousands of Rupees, but for somebody who bought a latest model and is cheated, it may be back breaking.
I would only want people to research well before they buy a water purifier solution. Going for TATA because it is reputed may only backfire because its proved now, that there are many unsatisfied customers with them. Aquaguard actually surpasses basic research test, with flying colors, because all the testimonials are praising it for good service since 12 years, 5 years and so on.
Absence of negative remark should raise doubts, but a person researches only when he/she has already decided on certain company and hence they feel elated that there are no negative testimonials. Its always better to search before deciding.
Coming to my post on Facebook page of Eureka Forbes, there was a reply from Eureka Forbes, in the following manner
"Dear Madhavi Praveen, we are sorry for the delay in services.
We have made a note of your concern details and forwarded your complaint to the concerned department and are following up with them
They will contact you soon and resolve your issue at the earliest.
Regards,
Eureka Forbes Team"

Eureka Forbes or Aquaguard - How do you earn.

Beginning with the disclaimer, My blog does not contain any promotional links nor is used in affiliate marketing. I am only writing my experience with the so called great company which has all the money to produce great and Impressive advertisements, but when it comes to serving the customer after sale point, it completely ignores them to the point of being arrogant. Their technicians are just like the company, nice and good when it comes to renewing AMC,  very rude and arrogant when it comes to serving them.
I had tough time deciding whether I should approach the consumer court or simply let go my money which is only few thousands. The question here is not the money, but of ethics. I finally came to a conclusion, instead of wasting my time running around courts, why not post as many posts as possible about the fraud that this company runs. It would be guiding many innocent middle class families. I don't know whether I can call it a crusade, but it is a small time war that I have declared on Eureka Forbes.
I am surprised how this company runs in the first place? I later found out EurekaForbes is a TATA undertaking. So they have money right now from other successful ventures like Tata Sky. All this will simply go waste if the company goes on similar lines.
I happened to post my problem with complaint number on Facebook page in my profile and there was immediate response to pacify me and my anger. That ended there itself, no action was taken even after three days of promise that they will serve me with whatever best they have. So I posted on their official  Facebook fan page, and checked after an hour, I was surprised  that some monsoon tips and other posts were only visible, my post was not even visible to anybody who comes to this page. For a moment I thought they have deleted it, but then there was this small link saying 32 people have posted since half an hour. And what do I get, all the posts are from people who have been cheated. Few were not delivered the product itself, many faced similar problem after AMC renewal. We never faced problem until we opted for AMC duration of 2 years. Earlier we used to opt for yearly contract which is why they used to come religiously to change candle and service the system and also renew the AMC. Only last year, they foold my in laws saying it is convenient to opt for 2 years and then our problem began.
My humble request to all families who want to make their drinking water safe, is, not to opt this company. Water purifiers are not their forte, their niche is different. Don't even think of opting this company. Never!!! I am now browsing for other choices I have.

My experience with eureka forbes or Aquaguard water purifier

First things first, this post does not contain any link other websites nor  my blog is used for affiliate links. Now coming to the main issue. Our water purifier model iNOVA was serviced by technician named Naveen on 27th June 2014 as per contract receipt no 22017878 for customer id 1002977856. Earlier in May my service request for cleaning was attended by Mr. Girish who said next month is candle replacement hence servicing at once would suffice. But repeated calls to the number given by Girish yielded no result, hence I called customer care and registered a service request which was attended to by Naveen bearing ID number 1902(told by Naveen) on 27th June.

The candle was completely worn out, because it has not been serviced or cleaned every six months as agreed in contract. He had tough time removing the disintegrated candles. After servicing, the water flowed in drops, to which he replied saying the disintegrated candle was obstructing the flow and that a coil needs to be replaced and promised he would come the next day, that is on 28th June 2014. He had made me sign the receipt hence I took his mobile number for reference in a case he forgets that the work was incomplete. But repeated calls only made him tell me new reasons each day.

In the beginning he told that coil will be delivered in courier and he is waiting for the same. After 2nd July I called him to inquire whether the courier had come, he said he will come home the same day and service it. Each day he would say yes madam I am coming within an hour and he would never turn up. If I get the list of dialed numbers from BSNL I will have made most calls to the mobile number 9538767188. It is now weekend already, my scheduled appointment with pediatrician cannot be postponed further and hence I called him and spoke sternly whether he will come today 7th July by 12pm or not. He started another story, that coil wasn't working. I said how will You know when you haven't even tried installing it. He says he needs to test it at service center. I checked the website for registering online compliant and could not find my model of water purifier. If they do not have my model in the list of purifiers how come did he test it?

I threatened him saying I will write to eureka forbes, he says all the best madam. Do whatever you can. Since seven. Years now, my water purifier was serviced only once a year and for on tract renewal. I think it is time to change my purifier.