World | India
Prolonged summer power cuts spark riots
Rioters, some wearing just their underwear, clashed with police in northern India on Friday in anger over power cuts that left wide swaths of the region without electricity as summer temperatures soared, police said.
- AP
- Published: 00:05 May 3, 2008
Lucknow: Rioters, some wearing just their underwear, clashed with police in northern India on Friday in anger over power cuts that left wide swaths of the region without electricity as summer temperatures soared, police said.
Police fired tear gas to disperse the crowds who attacked police vehicles, blocked roads and rail lines, set an electricity transformer on fire and attacked electricity workers in Uttar Pradesh state, police spokesman Surendra Srivastava said.
Riots were reported in several cities across the state, he said.
Uttar Pradesh, home to some 180 million people, is one of India's poorest states. Its inadequate energy infrastructure has been unable to cope with the high demand for electricity as temperatures peaked above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in recent days.
Detained
Most cities have been getting just 12 hours of electricity daily. Many people were left without air conditioning or fans - and, in some cases, without water, as electric pumps failed. More than 250 people had been detained and charged with rioting, Srivastava said.
In Gorakhpur, which had been without electricity for more than 24 hours, protesters stormed an office of the electricity board, taking several workers hostage and beating a few. They also set a nearby electricity transformer ablaze in the town, 300km southeast of state capital Lucknow. As police tried to disperse the crowd, many of the men - clad just in their underwear to beat the heat - taunted police, challenging them to open fire, Srivastava said.
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