The peepal tree at the house of Gopal Krishna and (right) after it was removed. Pictures by Deepak Kumar

A service, which could have been delivered in less than 24 hours, was handed out to a Mithapur resident in a year.

Gopal Krishna (30) and his family has been running from pillar to post to get help to cut a peepal tree that grew near their entrance of the house last monsoon.

The tree has been an occasional hazard since last July because it fell on a high-tension wire and the family felt power was passing through the walls of the house.

On Tuesday, Krishna and his family finally tasted “efficient delivery system”.

The tree was cut in less than 24 hours after Bihar State Power Holding Company chairman Pratyaya Amrit directed officials to act promptly on the plea of the resident.

Krishna, like a normal fariyadi (applicant) on Monday approached the janata durbar of chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, with a plea to cut the tree. Manjhi, after taking a look at the application, forwarded it to the energy department officials present at the durbar.

When the application landed on Amrit’s table, his first question to Krishna was: “For how long have you been shuttling from one table to another for such a small work?”

To this, the hardware shop owner replied: “Sir, for the past one year, I have been moving with the application to get my work done. I even approached senior officers at the electricity board at Kankerbagh and Karbighaiya but nothing happened.”

Without losing a minute, Amrit made a call to the electricity board officers at Karbighaiya to get the tree cut. The power holding chairman assured Krishna that if the tree was not cut within 24 hours, he should inform him.

The electricity board officers on Monday reached Krishna’s house around 4pm and after seeing the tree decided to cut it down but for this power supply had to be snapped for two hours. The officers again visited Krishna’s house around 6.45pm and cut it down.

An elated Krishna said: “For such a small work, I had to take the pain for a year. But finally the work was executed after the intervention of the senior officer.”

More than 15 members live in the Krishna household at New Vighrapur opposite Mithapur bus stand. The family members claimed they, including children, used to feel sudden shocks owing to the tree and the wire connection.