Villagers hold Powercom staff captive

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, March 30

High drama was witnessed at Burj Mehma village when officials of the enforcement wing of Powercom were held captive by villagers on Friday evening.

The powercom officials came to the village to initiate action against farmers, who had taken “illegal” power connections. When the powercom officials reached the village, a large number of residents gathered and confronted them.

The team of the Powercom officials reached the village around 6 pm and after around one hour, the villagers held the officials captive till 11:30 pm. Later, members of the BKU Ugrahan also joined villagers. They raised slogans against Powercom and the state government. An executive engineer, who was heading the enforcement wing team, managed to flee from the village while SDO Jassa Singh, JE Gurmail Singh and Lineman Raju among other officials were held captive by villagers.

Sukhjiwan Singh, a member of the BKU Ugrahan, said, “We have taken in writing from Powercom officials that they would not take any action against farmers. We will not tolerate any sort of harassment by them.”

SDO Jassa Singh said, “If farmers or residents use electricity from legitimate power connections, we do not have to conduct raids. A number of villagers had gathered during the raid proceedings. They have taken an assurance in writing from us that we would not take any action against farmers.”

Deputy Superintendent of Police Gopal Chand, who reached the protest venue to investigate the matter, said, “If we get a written complaint from Powercom, appropriate action will be taken in this regard.”