Editor,
As 15 August approaches, we are preparing to celebrate 75 years of independence with pomp and circumstance. Banners featuring the national flag and proclaiming patriotic slogans are ubiquitous. Even the department of power has joined the party with constant posts on Facebook.
It’s all well and good. We should celebrate our independence. We should be patriotic. But patriotism doesn’t end with slogans and flags. In fact, those aren’t even the bare minimum illustrations of patriotism. Patriotism is doing one’s job — for which the country pays you — to the best of one’s abilities.
Therefore, may I suggest that the department of power spends more of its time doing its job. Seventy-five years have passed since independence and the state still doesn’t have adequate power supply.
The slightest drizzle and the power goes off, because some electric post has fallen or some other jazz. It makes one wonder how the posts were placed in the first place. Every month there’s power outage for a couple of days because something or the other has to be moved. The public has to suffer hours without electricity in the sweltering heat.
The situation is even worse in the case of Lower Dibang Valley district. While it’s possible for Lohit district, which is 24 kms away, to draw power from Chapakhowa in Assam, the authorities in Lower Dibang Valley, which is barely 9 kms from Chapakhowa, are incompetent to do so.
As a concerned citizen and a suffering member of the public, may I suggest that they get their heads out of the sand and take their minds off tenders and bills for one second, and do their damned job?
A suffering citizen