LUCKNOW: Gonda villagers, frustrated by prolonged power cuts, reached a power substation carrying the Hanuman Chalisa and put the junior engineer on the spot.They asked him to place his hand on the religious text and swear how many hours of electricity was being supplied in a 24-hour day.The unusual protest took place at the Katra Bazar power substation around 8.30 pm on Friday.A video of the incident, showing villagers questioning the JE and recording the proceedings, has surfaced on social media.The villagers alleged that electricity was available at the substation but supply to their feeder was being repeatedly stopped.Residents claimed that they had been receiving less than two hours of regular power daily for nearly six months.However, JE Adarsh Kumar Ojha submitted a complaint against a dozen unidentified people. He alleged abuse, threats, damage to official documents and obstruction of govt work.Katra Bazar SHO Manoj Pathak said a video of villagers questioning power officials over outages had surfaced.Police have received a complaint from the electricity department and will take action after investigating the allegations.Meanwhile, MLA Bawan Singh held a meeting with officials and directed that a delayed 5 MVA transformer be commissioned before Sept 10 to address the supply problem.
