Irked over power cuts, farmers protest

Fazilka, July 17

Farmers of villages falling under the Singhpura power grid station in Fazilka district blocked the Fazilka-Abohar highway over erratic power supply.

Farmer Surjit Kumar Nain said cuts were being imposed regularly as a result of which they were not able to run tube wells to irrigate paddy fields.

The farmers said eight-hour power supply for agricultural fields was promised but more than five-hour cut was imposed on Friday.

They also alleged due to negligence of officials concerned, technical snags often occurred, disrupting power supply in the area. The farmers claimed they tried to meet the officials but none pay any heed to their demand, thus they were forced to block the highway. The PSPCL officials visited the site and promised the farmers of ensuring regular power supply to their fields. After the assurance, farmers lifted the dharna. Yamini Kamboj, SDO, PSPCL, said the cuts were imposed on Friday due to shortage of power and the department would compensate for it. — OC