The TSSPDCL officials faced severe resistance from the residents when they entered the Azampura and Chanchalguda localities, and had to discontinue.
The Majlis Bachao Tehreek (MBT) has strongly condemned the raids being conducted by the Vigilance Wing of the TSSPDCL in several areas of the Old City since the last five days.
The Vigilance Wing of the TSSPDCL, along with a heavy contingment of police forces, conducted raids on Saturday in Old Malakpet, Chaderghat, Akbarbagh, Saidabad, Chawni Nade Ali Bagi, Bagh-E-Jahan Ara, Dabeerpura, Farhat Nagar, Kattalguda, Osmanpura, Azampura, Chanchalguda and other areas.
However, the electricity department officials faced severe resistance from the residents when they entered the Azampura and Chanchalguda localities of the Azampura Division.
Strong protests led by MBT leader and Azampura Division corporator Amjed Ullah Khan forced the TSSPDCL staff to discontinue their raids.
In a media statement, Amjed Ullah Khan said that the TSSPDCL (Vigilance Wing) had been conducting raids in the Old City areas to cover up its failure in providing proper power supply.
He said that the areas with a concentration of people belonging to the minority communities were selectively picked by the TSSPDCL officials to conduct the raids.
Accusing them of trying to intimidate the power consumers of the Old City, he said that on the one hand power cuts were being imposed upon the consumers, and on the other, via the massive raids, a wrong impression was being created about the residents of the areas.
Besides imposing 4-hour official power cuts, the TSSPDCL had been snapping power supply in the Old City areas as and when it wished.
"Despite assurances given by the Chief Minister of Telangana K Chandrashekar Rao, the TSSPDCL had imposed power cuts in the Old City during the holy month of Ramzan. The power supply was cut off even on festival days like Ramzan and Bakri Eid. The senior officials remained unreachable whenever electricity supply was stopped to certain areas of the Old City. It appeared that their mobile phones were directly connected to the electric poles in the Old City, and so they too went off whenever unofficial power cuts were imposed," he said.
Amjed Ullah Khan alleged that the TSSPDCL was harassing the poor and middle class people living in the slum areas of the Old City with a concentration of people belonging to the minority communities. He said that the TSSPDCL never conducted raids on big marriage & functions halls situated in the areas of Champapet, Begumpet, Secunderabad etc., as many of them resort to power thefts in active connivance with the electricity department officials.
The MBT Corporator complained that the TSSPDCL was taking away the electricity meters from several houses without even intimating the residents.
He also questioned the silence of Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi, Old City MLAs and other corporators on the TSSPDCL harassments and raids.
He said that the issue of erratic power supply in the Old City and the harassment by the power department officials should have been raised in the ongoing Assembly Session. However, the MLAs not only remained silent, but kept on praising the TRS Party State Government for different things.
He warned the State Government of strong protests if the TSSPDCL continued its raids and harassed the common people in future.
"The MBT will not remain a mute spectator to the excesses of the TSSPDCL, and will launch a massive agitation," he said. (INN)