Electrician fined for riding without helmet, cuts power supply of police

Ferozabad: It is rare for police to get a taste of their own medicine but in Uttar Pradesh it has happened and a 'power' man made it happen.

In Ferozabad district on Wednesday when a lineman was issued a challan of Rs 500 for violating traffic norms by not wearing a helmet, he was fined.

Srinivas, the electrician, was returning to a power station when Sub Inspector Ramesh Chandra intercepted him and imposed a fine. In a tit for tat, Srinivas promptly cut the power supply of the Line Par Police Station in Ferozabad.

The policeman and his associates reportedly began explaining to the electrician why he was being fined and how he, not wearing helmet, had violated of traffic rules.

Srinivas returned the favour and explained to them how a penalty could be imposed on them for not clearing power bill dues on time. He even put the policemen in touch with his junior engineer who requested them to pardon Srinivas.

However, the police personnel did not relent. An angry Srinivas paid the fine online and went on to ask his colleagues to dig up the records of the police station and find the amount due with Line Par Police Station.

The records showed that the police station had not cleared their bills since January 2016, and the amount pending was a whopping Rs 6,62,463.

This gave the lineman a grand opportunity to avenge himself and so he snapped their power supply for about four hours.

Commenting on the debt, Ranveer Singh, the sub-divisional officer of DVVNL (Dakshinanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Ltd.), said that despite sending multiple reminders to the police station, they had not bothered to clear the dues.

"In fact, they did not pay a single penny since 2016," he said.

Explaining why Srinivas and his colleagues were so furious after the challan was issued, the official said that they had not received their salary for four months. They reportedly told the policemen about their inability to shell out Rs 500.

Even then, the police did not relent. However, after the power bill was generated, the policemen got in touch with DVVNL and requested to settle the dispute.