Gurugram woman gets electricity after 11 days and tweets

GURUGRAM: A 58-year-old resident and her octogenarian mother had to spend 11 days without electricity in her newly bought flat in Sector 56, before discom officials provided her a power connection on Friday.
Jyoti Seth, the woman, said discom officials installed the power meter in the evening only after she posted a series of tweets in the morning as a last-ditch attempt. Discom officials, however, said they had not refused a connection. But it was delayed as the house has two owners (one being Seth) and the other owner had raised objection to the power connection “due to some personal animosity between the two owners”.

“I am a common citizen and legal owner of my property. I have no connection in politics, police, DHBVN or in any other government agency. Please advise what a common citizen can do in this situation,” read one of her tweets posted on Friday morning, tagging the Haryana chief minister, senior Union ministers and journalists. Her tweets soon started trending as several residents, who are upset with the overall power situation in the city, shared the tweets.

Seth said she had been living without electricity since March 12, when she moved into her new home. “I applied for a new connection on March 12 and paid Rs 15,450 to DHBVN for the same. Yet, I had to spend 10 days, running from one desk to another, pleading with several junior and senior officials.” “Finally, they allotted me a meter on Thursday. But, a staff, who had come to install the meter, stopped work and left after getting a call from a senior official. When I asked, they said the meter did not have a right serial number.”

Seth then filed an complaint with the police station against the discom but in vain. But on Friday, the flurry of activities on Twitter apparently prompted discom to provide her a power connection.

SDO Manoj Kumar said the connection was initially withdrawn because there was a dispute between the two owners of this flat. “The flat is co-owned by two women. The second owner had objected to the meter installation. But, the issue is between the two women and thus, we reconsidered her application and gave her the connection,” he told TOI.