http://oheraldo.in/node/10240
Release of accused on bail upset power dept engineers BY HERALD REPORTER MARGAO, FEB 23 — Electricity Department engineers were on Thursday up in arms over the assault on three of their colleagues at Varca last midnight, with a delegation urging the district Superintendent of police to take a serious note of the incident. Assistant Engineer, Basil Alvares and Junior Engineer, Kamaladin and Muzzawar were beaten up at Varca late last night while attending a major electrical fault, which had plunged the coastal belt from Varca to Mobor in darkness. Alvares and Kamaladi had to face blows from the alleged accused M Gomes at Varca, opposite while they were on duty to restore power supply. The accused also took away the key of the vehicle, the engineers said in their complaint to the Colva police station. According to information, the coastal belt witnessed a power failure at around 10 pm and patrolling of the entire line by the officials revealed that an insulator had punctured and a conductor snapped at Varca. Colva police later arrested the accused for assaulting government servants on duty, but what agitated the engineers was his release on bail soon thereafter. Agitated over the assault on the power officials, Assistant engineers and junior engineers today brought the matter to the notice of the Power Minister, Digambar Kamat, who after giving them a patient hearing asked them to lodge a protest with the Superintendent of Police, South Shekar Prabhudessai. This evening, member of the Assistant engineers and Junior Engineers Association met the district police chief to work out some arrangements for the safety of power officials and field staff, especially late hours. SP Prabhudessai told the delegation that the accused was released since it was a bailable offence and assured that the police will henceforth not issue bail to assaulters on power officials unless they obtain one from the courts. The SP further promised to provide police security for department personnel on field during late hours, by the engineers said the arrangement would not work given the peculiar nature of their duties. -- TUMCHER AXIRVAD ASSUM; DEV BOREM KORUM. Gabe Menezes. London, England
