the goan I network
VASCO
Power supply was disrupted at about 3 pm on Tuesday and repeated calls to the complaints section of the Electricity department office at Baina failed to yield results. Residents were furious with the Electricity department staff at the complaints section for declining to attend to calls and the absence of the junior engineer on night duty.
Narrating their woes, Benny Furtado told The Goan that power supply was disrupted at about 3 pm.
“As power supply did not resume till 8 pm on Tuesday, residents began making calls to the complaints section at Baina electricity office. Initially, they attended to the calls, but failed to provide satisfactory answers and later, those attending to calls at complaints section kept the phone off the hook,” said Furtado.
“We thought that power supply would resume by 10 pm and when we tried to contact the complaints section, calls were not going through.”
“We then decided to march to the Baina electricity complaint office to demand an explanation and to know when the power supply would resume. But to our surprise, the night duty junior engineer was absent and the complaints section was being handled by only three linesmen,” Furtado added.
Another resident, Ramesh Naik, said people got agitated when the linesmen did not give any satisfactory answers.
“Fearing an assault by the irate mob, the linesmen at the office claimed there was a major breakdown at the main power supply station at Ponda,” said Naik.
“When we demanded the presence of the junior engineer at the office, the staff claimed he was out on night rounds and would not come to the office,” added Naik.
The angry residents then marched to the house of Mormugao Municipal Council Chairperson Deepak Naik and narrated their grievances. “The residents came to my house at about 12.30 am and after listening to their grievances, I accompanied them to the complaints section,” the MMC chief told The Goan.
“Once at the complaints section, I called on Assistant Engineer Kulkarni and informed him about the power failure and the behaviour of his staff on duty. Kulkarni assured to solve the problem and immediately directed the concerned junior engineer to visit the complaints section and resolve the problem.”
“As the fault was identified, the linesmen repaired the lines and restored power supply at around 4.30 am. I pacified the agitated crowd and they left for their respective residences,” the MMC chief added.
