The Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) has started disconnecting power supply to the tents of over 50 people who had lost their homes after houses in Latifpura locality was demolished in December by Jalandhar Improvement Trust. The victims of the demolition drive, who were living in the area for the past 75 years, have now constructed make-shift tents on the debris. While the power corporation said that they snapped supply as electricity was being stolen using the illegal “kundi” system, residents said that officials had taken rounds of the locality for two days before cutting supply and it was only meant to harass them further. Heated arguments were also reported between the leaders of the rehabilitation front of Latifpura and Powercom officials who came to remove the “kundi”. The leaders of the front said that they will hold two protestss in the city – on March 1 and 3 — and if the atmosphere of the city is disturbed then the government will be responsible for it. However, later in the day, the leaders reconnected the power connections of the tents that had been snapped. They said that on one hand, the AAP government was giving 300 units of free power to every household and claiming that 90% of the people will get zero electricity bills, but if these poor people living in tents are taking power for lighting just a single bulb then the same government is harassing them. The morcha leaders added that even if they wanted to get proper power connections, there is ample pressure from the land mafia. When asked, SDO Umesh Kumar said that he had taken the police along with him for joint checking, but there were not many kundis (latches) then.
