UP Electrician Cuts Power of Police Station to Avenge Rs 500 Fine for Traffic Violation

A lineman dug up pending electricity bills of a police station in Uttar Pradesh and snapped their power supply after he was issued a challan for violating traffic norms.

Srinivas said he was returning to a power station in Firozabad district on Tuesday after repairing a fault when he was stopped by sub-inspector Ramesh Chandra and issued a challan of Rs 500 for not wearing a helmet.

“The cop, along with his associates, started explaining me the rules for violating traffic norms and in return, I explained them the rules and penalty for not paying power bill on time,” Times of India quoted him as saying.

“I also made him to speak to my junior engineer on phone who also requested him to pardon me, but he did not listen,” he said.

A fuming Srinivas paid the fine online and then asked colleagues to check the power dues pending against the Line Par police station, according to a Hindustan Times report.

When it emerged that the police station had racked up accumulated bills of Rs 6,62,463 since January 2016, the lineman decided to avenge the fine by snapping their electricity for nearly four hours.

Sub divisional officer, of DVVNL Firozabad district, Ranveer Singh told Times of India that several reminders had been sent to the police station over pending bills.

“On Wednesday, we conducted a re-verification of pending amount of Line Par police station, and found that police department owes Rs 7 lakh. They haven’t paid a single paisa since 2016,” he said.

The official said that Srinivas and other employees were infuriated over the traffic challan.

“The men have not received salary for the last four months and Srinivas expressed his inability to pay Rs 500 as challan. After generating the power bill, the police officers contacted us on Tuesday night to settle the dispute,” he said.

The police claimed that over Rs 1.15 crore had already been paid to DVVNL against the electricity bill for all the offices and police stations in Firozabad and the remaining amount would also be paid soon.

Station House Officer, Sanjay Singh, termed the lineman’s tit-for-tat action as “unwarranted.”

“Since 4.30pm, there was no power supply in the police station for nearly four hours. We contacted senior officials of DVVNL against the electrician's act,” said. "Our district superintendent did not spare even 70 policemen who were found flouting the traffic norms, how could we have pardoned the electrician. The due amount of bill would be paid soon to DVVNL,” Times of India quoted him as saying.