(Top) The Cesu office at Bhimatangi and (below) residents sit on a dharna on railway tracks protesting undeclared power cut.Telegraph pictures

Bhubaneswar, June 14: Several trains were delayed, some by about five hours, as residents of Bhimatangi and Pokhariput sat on railway tracks near the Lingaraj station last night protesting against undeclared power cuts.

According to sources, nearly 500 people from the neighbouring areas sat on railway tracks near Lingaraj station to protest against undeclared power cuts by Central Electricity Supply Utility (Cesu). They even entered into the Dhauli branch of Cesu office and allegedly threatened the staff on duty there.

Getting information, police officers rushed to the spot and tried to convince the people. As the situation could not be brought under control, a huge posse of police rushed to the spot.

East Coast Railway officials admitted that most of the trains were delayed because of the protest.

“When we got the information about the blockade, we had to delay the movement of trains. Our officials from Khurda division rushed to the spot. The police also tried to convince them. But it took more than five hours to convince the protesters,” said Nirakar Das, senior public relations officer of the East Coast Railway.

Local residents complained that there had been frequent power cuts in the area in last few days. “The officials do not inform us about power cuts. Heat in this summer becomes unbearable especially due to these undeclared power cuts. This evening, they cut the power lines without any prior information,” said Ashok Nayak a resident of Old Town area.

Cesu officials, however, said they had to cut power last evening because of lightning. They said that a 33KV power cable was damaged in the lightning last evening near a railway track, which resulted in the power cut.

“Our workers initially could not locate where the damage had occurred as the area is on the outskirts of the city. They had to check all the 10 towers in the area and finally found that the cable had been damaged near the railway line. They had to be extra careful as the electric cable had crossed over the railway tracks,” said Niranjan Swain, general manager of Cesu, adding that the repair work took some time.

He added that local residents gathered at the site and started questioning the staff who were trying hard to finish the work. “However, the protesters blocked the railway tracks and did not allow our people to work smoothly,” added Swain.

Later, they entered the office of Cesu nearby and threatened the staff there. Local police reached the spot to pacify them.

The power cable could be fixed only after midnight after the protesters left the spot. However, Cesu officials rubbished the charge of local residents about undeclared power cuts in the area. Swain said that three days ago, there was a power cut in the area due to a routine maintenance work, but an announcement in this regard had been made. “We had published it in the newspapers,” said Swain.