Buxar: Residents of Gayatri Nagar in Buxar town staged a road blockade on Sunday to protest against an 18-hour power outage after the electricity department removed an operational transformer without restoring an alternative supply.According to residents, a department team removed the transformer around 3pm on Saturday without prior notice. Although officials assured them that alternative arrangements would be made but electricity was not restored through the night, disrupting water supply and causing hardship amid the heat.With power yet to be restored by Sunday morning, residents, including women and elderly people, gathered outside the electricity department office and raised slogans against officials. The protest led to a road blockade, resulting in traffic congestion and long queues of vehicles on both sides of the road.Local resident Shubham Upadhyay alleged negligence on the part of the department. Residents said alternative arrangements should have been put in place before the transformer was removed to prevent disruption of essential services.Electricity department officials reached the spot after being informed about the agitation and assured residents that a new transformer would be installed and power supply restored at the earliest. Following the assurance, the protesters withdrew the blockade.When contacted, Saurav Jorwal, managing director of SBPDL, directed officials to restore power supply to the affected locality through alternative arrangements and said the matter would be looked into.
