In protest against Tuesday’s incident of voltage surge in Chunga Charun village of Mendhar which left two persons, including a policeman dead, and six others injured, the residents staged a demonstration against the power development department on Wednesday.
The protesters said, “The unfortunate incident took placedue to the negligence of power development department. The concerned officialsand officers must be suspended.”
Mohammad Sarfaraz, one of the protesters, alleged, “Poorquality wiring and allied equipments being supplied by the department in ruralareas resulted in the incident.”
The protesters said that most of the power wires hang closeto the ground, which make them prone to accidents.
“We will not allow the restoration of power in the areatill senior officers, including deputy commissioner Poonch, visit the spot andtake action against the erring officers of the department,” they claimed.
On being contacted, executive engineer power developmentdepartment, Poonch, Maqbool Naik, said, “The shortage of manpower is the mainproblem faced by the department in the district. The department is preparing anew scheme to ensure adequate availability of power supply poles in ruralareas.”