People 'powerless', officials indifferent

PATNA: The residents of J-sector in Kankarbagh area have been taken for a ''ride'' on a time machine to a period in the past which had not been exposed to wonders of science, thanks to the insensitive authorities of the electricity board.
It has so happened that the transformer of the area went burst on Wednesday afternoon, taking the residents to the era of darkness.Till late Thursday night, there was no sign of power supply being restored. Even as the hapless people of the area reeled under intense humid conditions and severe water scarcity, the authorities were pleading helplessness for lack of resources.
"It normally takes three to four days to rectify the fault as the process involves clearances at many levels," said a harried junior engineer of the board, who was in the firing line of the residents. And like everything else concerning the government, power woes also intertwined with the bureaucratic red tape.
So, the ubiquitous and institutionalised ''pairvi system'' becomes the need of the hour. "The higher your source is placed, the better it is," quipped a board official preferring anonymity.
So, if one''s voice can create ripples in the corridors of ''power'', one can rest assured of special treatment from the board, said an executive engineer of the board. "If netas, bureaucrats or for that matter influential board officials stay in your area, you can get your work done without any hassles," said one of the officials. For others who don''t belong to the higher echelons of the society, there are other ways to get their demand fulfilled. The best thing you can do is to resort to agitation, said Praveen Kumar, a junior engineer of the board. "When a transformer went burst in the Chiraiyatand area a few days back, residents blocked the overbridge and soon the officials swung into action to rectify the fault," said Kumar.
Meanwhile, residents of J-sector have a tough time beating the heat and water crisis. Invertors and generators have conked.
Anima, a housewife, couldn''t send her children to school because they had a sleepless night. Another housewife, Anamika, had a difficult time cooking food as water was not available.