Representatives of various localities under ward 10 of Ranchi Municipal Corporation area on Monday protested outside the office of the junior engineer of Jharkhand Bijli Vitran Nigam Limited (JBVNL) at Kokar to demand safe power supply.
Around 50 representatives, mostly women, demonstrated between 11.30am and 1.30pm, alleging JBVNL’s apathy towards setting up or repairing electric poles in their area. Councillor of ward 10 Arjun Yadav led the demonstration.
Sarita Devi, a resident of Gitil Kocha area under ward 10, said her household regularly pays the electricity bill. “But in July last year, the electric pole got broken in my locality. I along with other locality residents told the JBVNL but no steps have been taken to repair it. Electric wires from the broken pole touch our house. Apparently JBVNL officials are waiting for an accident,” Sarita fumed.
Another lady from the same locality, who did not want to divulge her name, echoed Sarita and said JBVNL officials were making one pretext another.
“From July to February, it is sufficient time to construct a bridge but the JBVNL official has failed to erect a pole. Gitil Kocha is not the only place to face this problem. It’s the same situation in at least 20 places at ward 10, such as Haider Ali Lane, Tunki Tola, Kolam Kocha, Tiril Basti,” she said.
Councillor Yadav said a demonstration was their last resort after several appeals failed to attract the attention of JBVNL officials.
“JBVNL officials take people’s representatives like me for granted. We had to take the protest path. But this is the trailer, our protest will intensify if the JBVNL doesn’t fulfill our demand within seven days,” Yadav said.
Sujeet Kumar, a resident of Jainath Nagar in Argora, which comes under ward 36 of the RMC, supported the protest.
“I can understand what ward 10 residents are going through. Our area faces the same problem. Bamboo is used in my locality to prop up electric lines in the computer age. What a shame,” he said.
He added that they had requested for electric poles in June last year but so far it was not entertained. “Each time, the JBVNL officials say they don’t have electric poles at their disposal.”
Contacted, senior manager of the Kokar circle of JBVNL, Shambhu Nath Choudhary, promised to take proper steps soon. “We will soon do a survey of the ward and provide sufficient number of poles for electric wires,” Choudhary said.
Senior manager of the JBVNL’s central circle Sushil Bhagat, under which the Argora area falls, claimed these kinds of problems arise when a new locality develops.
“Whenever any new locality develops, there’s a problem of electric pole, but it does not last long. Poles are given when stocks arrive,” Bhagat said.