Cooch Behar, Dec. 29: When the West Bengal State Electricity Board (WBSEB) bill claiming arrears of over Rs 1.31 lakh arrived at the Dinhata municipality chairman Chandan Ghosh’s desk, he was surprised and shocked.

“We are going to contest this illegal manner in which the WBSEB’s group electric supply office has demanded the sum as arrears for power consumed by street lights between April and October this year,” an incensed Ghosh said at Dinhata today.

The chairman today shot off a letter to the station manager of the group electric supply office pointing out that the bill was “wrong, illegal and completely without basis.”

Ghosh stated in his letter that the WBSEB has been accepting the payment of power consumed on the basis of wattage consumed. The chairman said all bills till October had been cleared by the civic body.

Ghosh said the municipality had shelled out Rs 37,503 for the electricity charges in October and the amount was an average of what was paid each month. “Now they are charging us this additional amount as consumption of 36,204 units for the seven months between April and October, this year,” he said.

“There is no new agreement for this mode of payment and if we have to pay per units, why are there no meters?” he asked.

The station manager of the WBSEB, Anukul Raha, said he was unaware of Ghosh’s grievances.