Bihar plunges into darkness as power board employees go on warpath

Patna,(BiharTimes): Patna and a large part of Bihar plunged into darkness from Friday evening till Saturday fore-noon following clashes between the employees of Bihar State Electricity Board and Police in and around Vidyut Bhawan in the state capital late on Friday afternoon.

Not only the BSEB engineers, employees and policemen were injured even several passers-by and media persons sustained injuries.

The employees went on lightning strike for five hours, which was ultimately called off at about 11:00 PM on Friday night after the intervention of the power minister Vijendra Yadav. The employees have deferred the strike till Monday.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar also called the district magistrate of Patna, N Saravana Kumar, and reportedly expressed displeasure with the way the situation was handled.

However, in spite of the governmental intervention power supply throughout the state was badly disrupted throwing the normal life out of gear.

The power crisis had its impact even in the posh colonies of Patna and power centres of the state.

The strike followed after some electricity board employees were beaten up and arrested by the Patna police.

BSEB engineers, employees as well as pensioners are on warpath to press their charter of demands.

According to City Superintendent of Police Jay Kant the situation turned ugly when protesters started pelting stones on Bailey road. But the employees charged police with lathicharging them.

Soon the entire Vidyut Bhawan turned into war-zone and the office was ransacked.

The SP said when all request to maintain peace failed, police had to use mild force. Nearly 18 people, including 10 policemen, were injured.

Meanwhile, Power Engineering Service Association (PESA) secretary Ashwini Kumar said the energy minister has agreed to hold talks with the representatives of various unions on Monday. "We have not called off our strike, only deferred it. The final decision would be taken on Monday after the meeting with the minister," he told the media.