No respite without payment: For the third day, Chembur's Siddharth Colony remains in dark

Around 20,000 residents in Siddharth Colony in Chembur continued to stay without electricity for the third consecutive day. Reliance Energy had restored power on Tuesday night by 9pm, however, the company disconnected it after 6 hours. On Wednesday, the residents were in dark since 3 am and were forced to sleep outside their homes due to the heat. More than 500 residents of Siddharth Colony have been protesting outside Reliance Energy office in Tilak Nagar since Wednesday afternoon. They even tried to attack the office. However, to avoid a law and order situation, police forces were deployed.

Electricity was restored late at night on humanitarian grounds. Sunil Sukhdev, a resident said, "We are being harassed for three days. We are planning to approach court to apply for the Actrocity Act as all of us are Dalits. None of the housing federation members or builders is coming to our rescue. We are helpless".

Reliance Energy has been disconnecting the electricity supply to Siddharth Colony from Monday morning as residents allegedly have not paid bills for the last 12 years amounting to arrears of Rs 63 crore.

Another resident said, "We are ready to pay monthly power bills in future. But we cannot afford to pay dues worth Rs 63 crore. The builder who was to redevelop our colony had promised to pay all bills, but now, he is not showing his face".

Sources said, "We are strict this time about recovering all the arrears. If the residents cannot pay, they have to find a way. Because of Siddharth colony residents, our other customers are paying higher tariffs. 

Nearly 70 per cent of our customers come from economically weaker sections and are effectively cross-subsidising customers of Siddharth colony. It is only on humanitarian grounds we are not disconnecting power for 24 hours. It is only in intervals so that people do not suffer more".

STATE OF AFFAIRS

• Reliance Energy has been disconnecting the electricity supply to Siddharth Colony from Monday morning as residents allegedly have not paid bills for the last 12 years
   
• The dues amount to Rs 63 crore in total 
   
• Residents say they can pay bills in future but can’t clear the dues