Wife, children of Army jawan battle with government for electricity

Thane: With her husband deployed at the border to safeguard the country, the wife of an Indian Army jawan in Thane has taken on a different sort of battle as she has been running pillar to post for over eight months now to get the most basic necessity — electricity — at her house. Nalini Kapte, wife of Namdeo Kapte (38) who is posted in West Bengal near the Indo-Bangladesh border, and their two sons have been trying to get a power connection at their house in Asose village of Murbad town in Thane, which they got constructed two years back, but have not met any success yet. Notably, there is no problem of power supply in the village. [caption id=“attachment_2542234” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image[/caption] Nalini is worried for her two sons’ future which, she says, now lies in darkness in the absence of electricity. “We are presently staying elsewhere as the authorities have failed to provide an electricity connection. I have two children, one is studying engineering and the other is in class XII. What is the use of constructing a house…spending lakhs when we can’t make use of it,” a teary-eyed Nalini said. Kapte had applied for power connection with Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Co Ltd (MSEDCL), Morbad, in March 2015. The District Planning and Development Council (DPDC) accorded technical sanction for the connection (at Kaptes’ house) in July and the file was sent to MSEDCL office, Morbad, for further process. Despite the technical sanction, the formalities were not completed. “My husband frequented MSEDCL office when he was here and even officials very well know that this is a case of an Army jawan. But they didn’t pay heed,” she said. Only last month the process inched up when a power official asked Nalini to pay Rs 1,070 for the connection. However, even after completion of modalities, the connection was not provided. Dejected with the lackadaisical attitude of authorities, Namdeo sought help of NGO Shramajivi Sanghatana. Vivek Pandit of the NGO said Namdeo had constructed his house two years back. He has been following up with local authorities to get the power connection and formally applied for one after completion of his house construction, but the “casual attitude” of MSDECL officials kept things in limbo. The villagers, led by the NGO, marched to the MSDECL assistant engineer’s office on Thursday in this connection. When contacted, MSEDCL, Morbad, Deputy Engineer SD Suradkar said that everything possible to speed up work on Nalini Kapte’s application has been done and that “the (power) connection will be installed in next couple of days.” PTI