The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : EPDCL, civic body spat in Eluru

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Thursday, Jan 01, 2009
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

EPDCL, civic body spat in Eluru

G. Nagaraja

Power company officials stall demolition attempt by civic body

Municipal Corporation of Eluru and EPDCL at loggerheads over payment of power bills
Commissioner justifies demolition attempt saying the EPDCL office building is unauthorised

Photo A.V.G. Prasad

Showdown: EPDCL employees trying to prevent a bulldozer from demolishing their office in Eluru on Wednesday. . -

ELURU: The imposing multi-storied building housing the Eastern Power Distribution Company Limited (EPDCL) in the town had a brush with demolition on Wednesday. The controversy was apparently an offshoot of an ego clash between the top brass of the Municipal Corporation of Eluru (MCE) and EPDCL over payment of power bills.

Armed with bulldozers, the demolition squads entered the EPDCL office complex and were about to demolish the huge structure alleging it came up illegally. The angry personnel of the EPDCL working in the five-storied office complex came down and stalled the demolition by physically placing themselves in front of the bulldozer. That led to a showdown, inviting police. Tension prevailed in the area for well over an hour even as the police found it difficult to pacify the two clashing groups.

It all began with the EPDCL disconnecting power supply to the MCE office on Wednesday for non-payment of power bills. According to Kondapalli Satyanarayana, Superintending Engineer, EPDCL, the MCE turned out to be a defaulter by not paying the arrears up to Rs 40.6 lakh for the last six months. “The MCE authorities had resorted to coercive measures by deploying the bulldozers for demolition of our office building in retaliation to our attempts to recover the pending bills,” he told The Hindu. He said he would file a case with the police against the MCE personnel for “trespassing and damaging” the structure of their office building.

Meanwhile, MCE Commissioner Khadar Saheb justified the demolition attempts by his personnel saying the office building was unauthorised as the EPDCL authorities had constructed it producing false documents with regard to the ownership of the land. The Commissioner informed that he would file a criminal case against the EPDCL for “production of false documents” for plan approval.

Mr. Khadar Saheb said the MCE was quite regular in payment of power bills and only the bill for the current month was due. He explained that the MCE could not pay the bill this month in time as he was away and could not sign the related cheques.

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