After five days of literally feeling the heat, electricity was restored late yesterday evening in the picturesque town of Siju after a string of complaints were made to the authorities.
A severe storm had, on May 24, left the area’s electricity down. The Nongalbibra-Siju area is catered to by a private company, FEDCO.
Two of the company’s employees tasked with taking care of the lines were both indisposed, leaving the entire area struggling in darkness and anger. While one of the workmen fell off a tree while repairing lines, one is in hospital recovering from an electric shock.
The same village had seen a similar outage earlier that lasted for over a week before being restored, again only after frenetic calls were made to FEDCO operatives.
This time, the villagers called the Deputy Commissioner to seek his intervention into the matter. However, despite the DC intervening, it still took another three days for the lines to be repaired as the operatives were apparently not able to locate the fault in the line.
“The Siju area is always bearing the brunt of incompetence. When they are unable to maintain the lines, why did they take up the onus for it? As bill paying citizens, we have the right to electricity. The company should either work on their work culture or leave the distribution to more competent people,” said Siju resident Ralseng Marak.
Confirming the return of electricity, another resident expressed anger at being given the short shrift.
“For five days we had to struggle through the summer heat without being able to contact our loved ones. Some of us had to go to other towns and villages just to recharge our mobile phones. In this modern day and age, can people be punished by incompetence this way?” asked another resident.
According to the latest reports, although electricity has been restored, low voltage is now the major concern.
