Mysore/Mysuru: Irked over the nonchalant attitude of Vani Vilas Water Works (VVWW) Officers in looking into her prolonged grievance, a woman has taken the Officers to task and the video of which has gone viral on social media.

According to the video, the woman who is currently residing in Bengaluru has a house in Mysuru, but her request to VVWW look into the faulty water meter has fell on deaf ears. Even after running from pillar to post along with her son, the issue remains to be addressed. Fed up, the  woman staged a protest by squatting in front of the car of Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) Commissioner, parked near the Office of Executive Engineer of VVWW.

The woman has been receiving excessive water bill due to the faulty meter and had brought this to the notice of Officers in October 2022. As the Officers sat on her request, she submitted a memorandum in February this year. She has even promptly paid the water bill till date. In the meantime, she came from Bengaluru four to five times only to meet the Officers with the same request.

However, the Officers passed the buck on others directing her to meet one or the other Officer. When all her efforts went in vain, the woman lost her patience and staged a flash protest, warning not to allow the vehicle to move until and unless her demand is met, as heard in the video.

“Don’t know whether you have paid the salary to your Officers since last six months, but I have paid the water bill for the last six months. It is said that ‘Government Work is God’s Work’, but which God will like if the people are forced to run like this. Even after paying the bill, if our grievance is not addressed, what does this mean? I have spent thousands of rupees on travelling from Bengaluru to Mysuru four to five times. If one Officer is available, another won’t be available,” the woman has said expressing her resentment.

 When the Officers tried to convince her by attributing it to discrepancy in meter reading and action is being taken in compliance with the rules, it didn’t cut ice with the latter. The woman lost her cool and asked the Officers “Does it take six months to fix the fault in water meter.”

The Officers clarified again to the relief of woman that “The meter will be recalibrated and the excess water bill paid till date will be reimbursed along with rate of interest. The issue will be addressed at the earliest.”

The afore mentioned video holds mirror to the fact that all is not well in MCC, even after the recent heated discussion in MCC Council meeting about the same issue of excess water bills received due to fault in meters. Some of the Corporators had even vented their anguish by holding the water bills at the meeting and demanded the Mayor to address the lacunae.

It seems the Officers believe that such chaos and pandemonium are obvious, but have to wake up at least now and respond to the woes of the people in time.