Sambalpur: Tension gripped the town Monday following an attack by irate residents on a junior engineer of Wesco over the failure of officials in restoring power for more than 36 hours.
A scuffle broke out between agitating residents and Wesco employees in police presence. The protesters also gheraoed Wesco sub-divisional officer Ranjit Pradhan.
Several attempts by police officials and power department staff to maintain peace went in vain. The agitators said they would continue their stir till their demand is met.
Bowing to public pressure, the departmental officials speeded up their work and managed to restore electricity at around 10 pm. The protesters relented after repair works were over.
The agitators had blocked the Ring Road and the approach road to the temple from 5 am to 10 am resulting in severe traffic congestion.
The residents said Khetrajpur and residential areas around Samaleswari temple have been in dark since Saturday evening after severe hailstorm struck the area.
The residents drew the attention of junior engineer Bibhudutta Arya towards power disruption, who assured them that power would be restored by 9 pm. Later a group of Wesco employees visited the place and removed several trees which were broken due to the storm. At least 50 youths helped them in the work. As electricity connection could not be restored by the said time, the residents drew the attention of the JE at around 11 pm that night. The JE expressed his helplessness and told them that the work could not be accomplished due to staff shortage.
The residents later got to know that Wesco workers who were engaged in the restoration work were removed from the place in order to restore power connection in another place. Tension erupted in the area and the irate residents blocked roads at several places from 5 am Monday.
When contacted, SDO Ranjit Pradhan said the department would lodge a complaint with Khetrajpur police against the residents for assaulting the JE. PNN
