SEC rental mismatch irks diamond traders

The Surat Diamond Association has lodged a protest with the government against what they called the dual standards of the Surat Electricity Company (SEC) on deciding rent for land on which transformers are set up and recovery of costs for setting up of transformer platforms from general customers and the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC).

In a compliant lodged with the state power minister Saurabh Patel, SDA president Nanubhai Patel said the parameters for the rent paid by the SEC for land on which transformers and platforms of the company were set up were totally different and went against the interest of the general consumers.

"To set up transformers, the SEC should procure its own land and set up the platforms for transformers. Instead, the SEC was forcibly acquiring land and the construction cost from the general consumers and paid very nominal and marginal rent for the same while for the SMC, the SEC not only constructed the transformer but also paid rent which was equivalent to 18 per cent return," Patel alleged.

Many applications for the new power connections and additional power loads were pending with the SEC on the grounds that the customers had not allotted the land and not constructed the platforms for the proposed transformer, the complaint said.

"We have the right to know as to how much land has been procured by the SEC for setting up of transformers and how much cost it has shouldered and how much money it has collected from the consumers for setting up of transformers," Patel said.