As a public service unit supported by taxpayers, the Gujarat Electricity Board is obliged to act fairly and do little else but supply efficiently a commodity essential to life and livelihood. Yet it doesn?t seem keen on doing its duty, at least to some sections of the state?s popu- lation.

Hindus and Muslims live in separate neighbourhoods in the now famous Godhra town. The predominantly Muslim areas of Gohya Mohalla, Rakshan Road, Jahurpura Mohalla, Meethi Khan Mohalla, Mohammadi Mohalla, Signal Falia, Muslim society-A, Muslim-B, Vachla Odha, Kabrastan Road, Satpul and Polan Bazaar face a severe electricity shortage. Transformers frequently catch fire due to overload. For some strange reason, soon after the Godhra incident in 2002, separate transformers were installed for providing power to Muslim and Hindu communities. Ideally, separate transformers should have facilitated better supply. But while Hindus get uninterrupted supply for 24-hours, Muslims face daily power cuts.

In fact, for the last three years, these areas have had to put up with 10 to 15-hour-long power cuts. Wires tear or collapse, transformers catch fire. Last monsoon, a child was electrocuted when he stepped on a broken transformer. That should have been enough to get the board?s attention, but things remain the same.

Cutting them out

Indiscriminate power cuts mean that the main sources of livelihood for the community ? sawmills, flour mills, lathe-machine works ? are badly affected. Many businesses have shut down. Generators have become essential in schools and hospitals. Repeated complaints have been of no avail.

In the early months of the problem, when people went to complain to the state electricity board, they were often pushed away with ?Go to Pakistan and ask for electricity there.? Complaints to higher authorities were met with allegations against the ?community? for power theft, tampering with wires and meters and non-payment of bills. To counter the accusation, residents of the affected areas submitted copies of electricity bills. When this failed to convince the board, residents went to court.

In October last year, the high court directed the electricity board to supply full- fledged power to the entire Muslim area and confirm, within 15 days, that its order was being executed. In due course, the board filed its affidavit naming the consumers to whom supply had been restored. The petitioners, in turn, were asked to assure security to the employees of the electricity board for reading the meters and other installations in the area.

The memory lingers

All that is mostly on paper. The board continues to disobey the spirit of the high court directive. Residents say that burnt transformers are not repaired and allege that this is just an excuse for the board not to supply regular electricity. The situation has worsened, with 24-hour cuts becoming more frequent in the last two months. With board examinations nearing, anxiety levels are high among students.

It?s been three years since Godhra, but the memory of the violence lingers. The minority community alleges that before February 27, 2002, it never faced electricity problems. Muslims ask, ?Have we suddenly become thieves??

Whatever the predispositions of the Gujarat Electricity Board, supplying power is its duty and that too without any seeming discrimination. But perhaps the high court will need to step in again to enlighten the board about its minimum duty so as not to bring the government of Gujarat into disrepute again.