SANGUEM: Irked with the failure to report on the high voltage incident which occurred at Kuinamoll Sanguem on Thursday October 17 and subsequent damage suffered by the locals, the Deputy Collector Quepem Ajay Gaude has issued a show cause notice to Junior Engineer (JE) Sanguem Atul Naik of the electricity department.
The notice, has asked him to reply within two days as to why disciplinary action should not be proposed against him for irresponsible and unauthorised actions.
The show cause notice follows the oral instructions issued by the deputy collector to the J.E to report on the cause of incident and damages to the locals. This instruction had been given on the day of the incident and was supposed to have been filed on the same day.
It may be recalled that on the day of incident, after the power supply was restored in the village after four days, the electrical appliances in several houses had been damaged. For instance, the house of Shridhar Shirodkar was partly damaged after the refrigerator in his house caught fire and other electrical appliances and other household items were also damaged in the incident. However, the J.E failed to report on the incident as instructed.
The Deputy Collector has now issued a show cause notice to the J.E as under section 56 of Disaster Management Act which states that any officer on whom duty has been imposed by or under the Act and who ceases to perform or withdraws himself from the duties of his office shall unless he has obtained express written permission of his official superior or has other lawful excuse for do doing be punishable with imprisonment which may extend for a term of one year.
Meanwhile, Sanguem locals are likely to lead an agitation to the Electricity Department Sanguem on Tuesday morning to highlight the issue of frequent power failures and alleged high handed behaviour of some officers.
Some days back, a verbal spat had emerged between the Chairperson of Sanguem Municipal Council Romualdo Fernandes and J E Naik, which had even reached the Sanguem Police Station for inquiries.
