Banki,10th Sept 2025: — In Banki subdivision, the electricity department’s plan to install prepaid meters in consumers’ homes has faced protests. Today, a meeting was held at the office of the Banki Sub-Collector, called by the Banki Merchants Association, to discuss this issue.
The meeting was chaired by Banki Sub-Collector Pranab Kumar Behera. Present were Electricity Department Chief Manager Amaresh Mishra, Executive Engineer Soumyaranjan Mahapatra, and team leader Satyajit Bhutia. They discussed the installation of prepaid meters in consumers’ homes.
Earlier, under the call of Banki Merchants Association editor Srinivas Behera, protests had been held against installing prepaid meters in Banki households. Previously, discussions between electricity department officials and members of the Banki Merchants Association took place at the Banki Press Club Vidyaratna Bhavan.
To make a permanent decision on this matter, today’s meeting at the Sub-Collector’s office was attended by Banki Merchants Association President Pratap Chandra Mahapatra, Lawyer’s Association President Dhurendra Kumar Mangaraj, Banki Press Club President Balabhadra Panda, Lawyers’ Association Editor Subhasish Mahapatra, senior lawyers Kailash Chandra Mahapatra, Harekrishna Das, Subas Chandra Mishra, Gaurishankar Nanda, Pradeep Kumar Pattnayak, Ajit Kumar Panda, Amulya Chandra Pradhan, Press Club Vice-President Samarendra Mahapatra, Editor Subas Chandra Padhi, Associate Editor Bibhusprasad Samal, Merchants Association member Vivekananda Samal, Nilamani Mahapatra, Pranab Kumar Mahapatra, Ghanshyam Mahanti, Pramod Kumar Samal, along with many other members of the Merchants Association.
During the meeting, discussions were held about stopping the installation of prepaid meters in people’s homes and refraining from unscheduled power cuts.
Electricity Department Executive Engineer Soumyaranjan Mahapatra clarified that prepaid meters would not be installed in households protesting against them. It was also decided to immediately replace any mechanical or faulty meters present in homes.