Bangalore: For the last five Sundays, there has been a blackout in Ejipura from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., upsetting the weekend plans of the residents.

A resident told The Hindu that the people of the area had tried calling Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM) office, but to no avail.

Joseph Anthony, another resident, said the area was served by the Viveknagar sub-station. "We tried calling them a number of times.

However, we often come across officials who are indifferent and rude," he said.

He said the BESCOM officials did not even take the calls and attend to the problems of the residents. "It is not the first time that we are facing such a problem. This has happened many times. The officials are not bothered about our plight," he said.

A resident, who spoke to The Hindu on condition of anonymity, said that when he went along with the other residents to place a complaint at the sub-station, the officials misbehaved with them.

"It is a major civic problem and the officials of the power utility are neither addressing it nor trying to solve it. Once, when we contacted the officials, they said they would not be able to solve the problem and asked us to contact the Power Minister," he said.

Mr. Anthony said: "Sunday is the only day we can relax with our family. But because of power shutdown, we cannot watch television nor can we do chores in our homes. We feel paralysed," he said.

Chief Engineer of BESCOM said that the problem might be confined to a few lanes in the area. "We always give a notification to be published in the newspapers if there is power shutdown for such a long period. We have received no specific complaints in this regard," he said.

About the behaviour of the officials, the chief engineer said the residents could then complain about the officials concerned to the superiors. "If we get complaints from customers about rude behaviour of our officials, we will take it up seriously," he said.

In spite of the assurances from BESCOM officials, the residents of Ejipura are bracing for another "dark Sunday".

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