7 AENs accuse Raj min Bedham of threating them, seek transfers

Seven assistant engineers in Deeg, Rajasthan seek transfer, alleging threats from state minister Bedham for taking action on bill defaulters.

At least seven assistant engineers (AEN) of the discom department in Deeg district of Rajasthan have sought transfer to different areas accusing state minister Jawahar Singh Bedham of threatening them constantly against taking any action on the bill defaulters in the district, people familiar with the matter said on Saturday.

Jawahar Singh Bedham did not respond to the repeated calls made by HT for his remarks over the incident (@BedamSingh/X)

The development came after an AEN was slammed with an awaiting posting order (APO) on Thursday after he protested against Bedham.

The officials also submitted a memorandum to the Discom headquarter in Jaipur on Friday alleging that Bedham, since Wednesday, has been threatening them of “brutal assault” if they “disconnect the transformers of bill defaulters without his permission’”. They said that they might have “a life-risk if they continued working in the area.”

Earlier on Wednesday, following the direction of Nagar block AEN Chandra Prakash Meena, a few officials of the Jaipur Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited (JVVNL), posted in Deeg, had visited seven villages — Arsi, Bedgama, Sundaravli, Nogava, Akbarpur, Foujdar and Ishnaka — and disconnected 11 transformers of bill defaulters.

“The minister (who is also Nagar constituency MLA) called us and asked to return the transformers. He also asked us not to visit the village further without his permission following which we failed to get hold of the due payments from those customers due to such political interference,” the staff said in the memorandum, a copy of which HT has seen. Later, on Thursday, the minister again called Meena and his staff in the meeting hall of the Deeg Panchayat Samiti, where he also called some defaulters from Isaka village.

“During the meeting, he forced Meena to return the transformers and asked us again to not take action. When Meena protested his decision, Bedham threatened to assault him and break his arms and legs if he takes such action in future against those customers,” they said in the memo.

Following the meeting, where the Deeg district collector Shruti Bharadwaj, Deeg discom superintendent engineer Yuvraj Asliwal and a few local police officials were present, the minister also issued an order on the same evening, putting Meena on an APO.

Alleging their “incapability in recovering due revenue of the government due to the minister’s dictatorship and political interference”, the seven AENs submitted the memorandum to superintendent engineer Asliwal on Friday and sought an immediate transfer “considering the risk of their life.”

Claiming that they also have the call records of Bedham’s conversation as evidence, they said: “We are facing life threat. We are scared that we may face similar fate as of AEN Harshsdhipati Valmiki in Bari of Dholpur. Hence, the department is hereby requested to kindly transfer us in different areas. We will also not be answerable anymore for failing to get hold of the due revenue.”

Valmiki, a Dalit AEN of the department, was brutally assaulted by the then-Congress MLA Girraj Malinga on March 28, 2022 at his office in Dholpur for removing the transformers of bill defaulters in a village belonging to Thakur caste. He sustained around 22 fractures during the incident and is still undergoing treatment at a hospital in Jaipur.

Meanwhile, Meena said, “I was newly posted in the minister’s constituency. Our department directed us to recover revenue and take legal action against defaulter customers. I was threatened by the minister and he also forced me to not take action. He also forced me to not take action in Gurjar dominated villages. My colleagues are also scared.”

Reacting to the development, Bharatpur zonal chief engineer Umesh Gupta said, “We have to recover the revenue due in March but defaulters don’t want to pay the bill. We are trying to solve the grievances of customers. Public and political leaders must support us to collect revenue for the department.”

Bedham meanwhile did not respond to the repeated calls made by HT for his remarks over the incident.