After 40 years of struggle, widow gets power supply

Ravinder Sood

Palampur, June 11

Sandhya Devi, a resident of Bag Uprala village in ward number 10 of the Palampur Municipal Corporation, is a happy woman today as she finally got an electricity connection in her house after about 40 years of struggle.

In all these years, Sandhya Devi moved from pillar to post to get this basic facility at her house but to no avail. She visited various offices of the state government and the Himachal Pradesh Electricity Board. She even approached the local MLA, councillor, and ministers time and again but was always disappointed, she alleged. Even during the municipal elections in April this year, she made many requests to leaders of both the Congress and the BJP, but no one bothered to help her, she rued.

When a group of mediapersons today visited the Bag Uprala village for a reality check, Sandhya Devi said that her late husband Birta Ram had served in the Army for 32 years and had constructed a house in his native village in 1983. Birta, during his lifetime, made all efforts to get electricity supply in his house. After he passed away, Sandhya Devi picked up the baton to realise his dream but her applications were turned down by the HPSEBL authorities time and again on “flimsy” grounds.

However, when a video of mediapersons went viral in the social media this morning, the HPSEBL authorities swung into action and installed a temporary electricity connection at her house.