Power men face public fury again,this time at Azad Colony in Panchkula

The officials claimed the police force,which they took along with them for security,acted as mute spectators while stones were being pelted on them. “It was after the Saketri episode that we thought it wise to take the police force along with us for safety,but the force kept waiting for orders while we were being gheraoed. While the administration has failed to act against the colony residents,who have encroached government land,the illegal kundi connections there result in a loss of around Rs 10,000 to the Electricity department on a daily basis,” said PK Goyal,an official of the department.

He added,“In order to boost the morale of our employees and fight against power theft,the MD,along with both the directors and senior officials of UHBVN,decided to join us in the removal of illegal connections in the colony. While we successfully managed to remove most of the illegal connections,the moment we started removing the main HUDA wire,the colony residents started pelting stones on us.”

The official said despite the officials having given a written complaint against the residents,the police have failed to register a complaint against them.

Meanwhile,residents of the colony said they resort to attack when their demands for electricity connection are not fulfilled. “We want electricity connection,but are not given. It is then that we resort to other methods,” said one of the residents.

The residents were pacified only after Tehsildar Satish Singla reached the spot and assured the residents that they would get regular connections once they apply for it. Following his assurance,the residents opened the blocked road and vehicular traffic was allowed to pass.

While SP Maneesh Chaudhary was not available for comment,a police official said on condition of anonymity that the police had brought the situation under control and there was no inaction on their part.

During the checking at Saketri,the officials had detected 12 cases of theft of power and unauthorised extension of load and imposed penalty over Rs 1.5 lakh on the erring consumers. As many as 50 consumers deposited the penalty amount and the outstanding electricity bills on the spot to avoid further action by the Nigam.

The MD,UHBVN,Vijender Singh,also visited Saketri village on Saturday morning along with senior officials to boost the morale of his employees who had been manhandled by the Saketri residents when they tried to remove illegal connections.

* The officials of UHBVN would be holding mass protests in the district on Monday against the police for their inaction.