Noida, Sep 15 (IANS) Nearly 200 farmers from Gautam Budh Nagar district under the banner of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) staged a protest at the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) office here on Wednesday.
Farmers said the UPPCL sent arbitrary electricity bills and if the farmers failed to pay, they are harassed unnecessarily. The farmers locked the door of the power discom office at Noida's sector 16 and continued their protest outside.
The farmers said they are fed up with illegal recovery by UPPCL officials. "These days a vigilance team visits the villages to check power theft. The vigilance team says they have come for inspection on the direction of UPPCL. They ask people in villages to pay them, otherwise they are charged for power theft," said a Gautam Budh Nagar based BKU leader, Subhas Chaudhari.
The farmers said several electricity transformers are defunct in the villages and when they ask the officials to replace them, the officials ask for a bribe. The agitating farmers also alleged that the power department officials cut the power supply for hours.
"We are fed up with arbitrary decisions of UPPCL and we will not call off this protest until we are assured that such things are not repeated in future," Chaudhari added.
Claiming that the villagers have taken legal power connections and that they pay electricity bills every month, the farmers alleged that UPPCL does not send proper bills to the consumers in the villages but later come to collect money.
Besides these, the farmers also alleged that UPPCL is denying electricity connections in the villages that are located along the Yamuna Expressway. "If UPPCL wants to stop power theft, then why does it not send monthly electricity bills in the villages? And when they do not send monthly bills, then why do they later ask people to pay hefty bills? There are several issues which need to be stopped immediately," said another local farmer, Suresh Awana.
The farmers reached the power company office at around noon and camped at the main gate. They brought with them their traditional hookahs and later also cooked food at the site.
The protesters finally vacated the spot at around 5.30 p.m.
Naqvi further stated that the long-pending demand of Kartarpur Corridor has been fulfilled and the government has also decided to start the 'Gurudwara circuit train' that will take passengers on a pilgrimage across the country.
Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait on Wednesday announced that they will continue the peaceful protest here and will not obstruct any official day to day activities. He said that farmers across the state will continue the agitation on the lines of ongoing protests at the Delhi borders.
The drug money is allegedly linked with the seizure of 17 kg heroin, which was recovered by the police in Amritsar (Rural) on August 26 after arresting Ranjit Singh, alias Sonu.
The demands included an FIR and strict action against SDM Ayush Sinha, who on August 28 instructed the police to beat the protesting farmers. A video-clip of Sinha ordering the force to smash the farmers' heads had stirred a row after it went viral on social media.
Amid farmers protest in Karnal, former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said on Wednesday that the government should avoid confrontation with the farmers and find amicable solution. He said confrontation is not good as farmers have every right to protest peacefully for their demands.
