Hundreds of applicants at the Registering and Licensing Authority (RLA) were shocked pm Thursday on reaching the office in the morning when they were greeted with a notice stating that the office will remain closed till 3 pm. The reason as mentioned in the notice was power failure,however,through the glass door one could see tubelights and fans switched on. Later the staff members sitting outside the locked office,said that there is no power supply to the computers due to which the office has been locked and the power supply to the office is not affected much. Nevertheless,applicants who were totally caught unawares,faced considerable harassment owing to the sudden notice. When contacted SDM Parshuram V Kavle,said,The power failure is engineering department's responsibility. However,the power supply to the computers were restored around 2.30 pm. I came in the morning all the way from Sector 40 to get my license renewed. My son dropped me here while going to work. Now I cannot go home and will have to wait till 3 pm. Its almost five hours. What will I do till then? They should have informed the public in advance to avoid such a situation,said Balwant Singh,a resident of Sector 40. I had taken leave for the first half from my office especially for this work. But now the office will open after lunch. My leave has gone waste and I cannot come in the second half. The office should have an alternative arrangement in place since there is so much public dealing here.,said Rajesh Kumar,a private employee. Ironically,while the office is one of the most revenue generating departments in the UT Administration and yet there is no back up for power supply. The least that the department can do is buy a generator to run the computers to avoid such harassment to the public, said an insider in the office. Insiders say that the power supply failed following sparking in the transformer yesterday. But the same could not be repaired even till today morning leaving everyone hassled.
