Poisonous fruits of privatization : power sector in shambles , people continue to suffer

By Our Correspondent

Agartala, August 5, 2022

The people of the state have been suffering for a long time from the evil effects of privatization of part of the crucial power sector. During the chief ministership of Biplab Kumar Deb a large part of the power sector had been privatized despite principled objection from the deputy chief minister-also the minister for power-Jishnu Debbarma. While privatizing part of the sector all local contractors and contenders had been kept out of the tender process unfairly by inserting conditions which could be fulfilled by dubious private entities from outside only to extract illegal gratification in the form of hefty bribes.

But now the results are there for all to see and suffer as , despite being power-surplus on paper there are frequent power cuts and disruption of supply daily almost all over the state. The people in different parts of the state have also started protesting now against the gross mismanagement of the power supply sector. In one such incident yesterday the people, mostly minorities in Sonamura subdivision, launched a protracted road blockade programme on the Sonamura-Boxanagar road in front of the Kulubari higher secondary school. Sources from Sonamura said that the people of Aralia panchayat had been suffering from severe power crisis for the past fifteen days . Having launched the road blockade programme in protest the people said that despite near total collapse of the power supply system they got no relief even after repeated complaints to the fault rectification teams. The problem had stemmed from the dysfunctional nature of the transformer meant for Aralia and Kulubari Panchayats but it was not rectified even after repeated complaints.

Finally the employees and officers of the power department rushed to the spot and began repair work , assuring people of early repair of all faults and then the road blockade was withdrawn. The people however said that in case the problem persisted they would be forced to resume blockade as a mark of protest.