Electricity department officials breaking into Jharkhand government’s treasury
Kathara’s electricity department has become a den of robbers
No work is done without transactions
Bokaro: Special correspondent/Kathara. When will the ongoing corruption and negligence in Jharkhand Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited’s Kathara unit come to an end? Due to the collusion of unbridled officers and employees, this department is being fleeced of lakhs of rupees every month. Not only this, due to rampant looting, the amount deposited in the government treasury is openly distributed. The latest case is of Monday, April 15. On this day, the power supply was disrupted due to heavy storm and rain. After this, it was found that the supply was stopped due to cable breakage and it cannot be restored at the moment. In such a situation, other people, in collusion with departmental employees, collected Rs 30 to 50 and 100 per shop in Kathara. Due to this, anger was seen among the electricity consumers on one hand and helplessness on the other. Investigation with sources and many shopkeepers revealed that electricity was restored to the consumers only after money was recovered. Whereas, employees appointed by the Jharkhand government for this work are paid a hefty amount as salary.
It is worth mentioning that when the departmental office in Kathara was contacted on this issue, the mobile number of an engineer from Tenughat was given from there: 94311 35714. On contacting the above mobile number, the engineer heard the complaints but he himself washed his hands off the complaint. Even on asking his name repeatedly, instead of telling his name, he washed his hands off the matter by saying that I am going on a raid.
Another interesting thing in this episode is that SDO of Kathara department Rajesh Birua heard the complaint and assured to take action. According to the local residents, the corruption and negligence spread in this department for years is such that to remove minor technical faults, money is collected from the shopkeepers here. If sources are to be believed, the employees posted at the same place for years are playing this game in connivance with the local electricians.
