EPDCL officials assure power connections within 15 days to tribals of ASR district in Andhra Pradesh

APEPDCL officials visit tribal hamlets in ASR district, promise power connections within 15 days, resolve certificate submission issue.

A team of officials from the Andhra Pradesh Eastern Power Distribution Company Limited (APEPDCL) visited the China Konela and Buriga tribal hamlets of Anantagiri mandal in ASR district on Friday and assured the tribals of power connections within the next 15 days.

The tribal people said that officials from EPDCL, SE G.N. Prasad, DE A.V.N. Appa Rao, AD S. Suresh Kumar and AE Lingeswara Swamy, visited the two tribal hamlets reacting to the report published in The Hindu on October 31 (Thursday). The officials informed them they need not submit their caste certificates for household power connections and that their Aadhaar cards will suffice.

The tribals staged a protest at Kasipatnam sub-station on October 30 (Wednesday) and said that the AE had given power connections to only four households but claimed that connections were given in both the hamlets.

Tribals of the two villages had lodged a complaint at the APEPDCL CMD’s office in Visakhapatnam on September 30 alleging that the Anantagiri AE was providing incorrect information. When the higher officials asked the AE about it, he claimed that only four persons had submitted their Aadhar cards and caste certificates, while the remaining had not submitted the same.

“While 23 households had submitted their caste certificates and Aadhaar cards two months ago, the AE lied that only four persons had submitted the documents. The tribals staged a protest on the night of Deepavali,” CPI(M) district secretariat member K. Govinda Rao told The Hindu on November 1 (Friday).