Mumbai: Mulund power distributor snaps supply to traffic chowkie over tiff with cop

The work at this traffic chowki in Mulund came to a halt after the power cut

The traffic police and electricity distributor Mahavitaran officials flexed their muscles in Mulund by using their powers against each other on Thursday. While the cops arrested a contractor of the power company, the latter snapped electricity supply to a traffic chowki.

The tussle led to signals at the busy Sonapur Junction going blank for half an hour. During this time, the traffic chowki's CCTV cameras, computers and walkie-talkies also stopped working. It was sorted out after intervention by senior officers.

The drama started on Wednesday evening after traffic cops spotted a Mahavitaran contractor digging a road to lay cables. They demanded R15,000 saying the contractor did not have the permission for work, said Mahavitaran officials.

The cops struggled to communicate over walkie-talkie after they ran out of battery

On Thursday, it snowballed into a major fight after the police arrested the contractor, Apsha Pallavi. In return, Mahavitaran officials slapped a bill of Rs 74,000 on the chowki and disconnected its electricity supply.

A Mahavitaran official who did not wish to be named said, "Many a time our officers visit the traffic chowki to seek permission for digging roads. They are made to wait for more than two hours at times. We are also government officials. To extract money from our contractors, they are doing all this." He added, "They took Rs 15,000 from our three contractors."

The electricity company's executive engineer Dattatray Bhange said the chowki has a huge pending bill accumulated over the past year. "We informed them many times but they didn't pay the bills."

Asked if the disconnection was the fallout of the police action against their contractor, Bhange told mid-day, "We wanted to give a message to the traffic chowki that if they have power then we also have some power."

Traffic senior inspector Narendra Telgaonkar said, "Mahavitaran contractors were working without permission which led to an increase in traffic in the area. Due to this reason, we took action against them. The pending electricity bill will be paid by the head office. It's not in our hand."