Almost 900 residents blocked the road to Huda City Centre this afternoon for four hours, leading to police intervention. What were they protesting about?
With their pleas for separate electricity bills falling on deaf ears for the past few months, almost 900 residents of Ardee City, in Sector 52, Gurgaon, had to resort to blocking the road to Huda City Centre for almost four hours this afternoon.
This “Rasta Roko Andolan” took place near Gate No 1 of the society and saw the participation of even senior citizens. The protest, which began around 11 am, was staged against the builder, who, despite orders from Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHVBN), had been giving them a consolidated bill that included electricity, maintenance, water and sewage charges. Residents had repeatedly been requesting the builder to separate the electricity charges from this, but nothing had been done.
Orders from DHVBN, issued on May 9, 2017, clearly stated that according to Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (HERC), the electricity tariff had to be a separate entity and could not be clubbed with the other charges being levied on residents.
The agitation was so bad that the police had to step in.
“Imagine how frustrated we are that we had to protest on the streets in this heat!” said Lisa Mody, an ad-hoc committee member. “We hope at least now the government pays some heed to our demand and directs the builder to raise separate bills from today itself. We have paid for all amenities when we bought houses in Ardee City almost two decades back. We don’t know why the authorities have been turning a blind eye to what the builder is doing.”
Praveen Yadav, a resident, said, “Our pains seem never-ending. Electricity supply here has always been erratic, and the tariffs always higher than that prescribed by HERC. But now this clubbing of all charges has really rubbed us the wrong way.”
Initially, no one from the builder’s side was ready to talk to residents, but now general manager of Ardee Builders, Chandan Lakhanpal, has issued a letter to residents promising them a separate bill for electricity charges till further course of action isdecided.
