Goa electricity department's Twitter honest reply leaves users amused

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An 'honest' reply by the individual in-charge of the Goa electricity department's Twitter handle - lamenting that he too was suffering from power cuts - has prompted chuckles of amusement from users, who have acknowledged the brutal honesty of the tweet and that they can easily sympathise with the predicament of the person behind the account. "I also have no lights and would be anytime fadding (fading) aways from you all until supply restored and mobile and laptop charged (sic)," the coastal state's power department handle tweeted past midnight Monday, at a time when parts of the state were without power because of thunderstorms and fierce winds that had snapped power lines and caused disruptions.

Initial replies expressed surprise at the candid admission and the person behind the account pointed out that s/he too was a consumer, just like everyone else.

"I am also a consumer like you, now out of office but only a dept person on twitter. No special service to me I go through the same route as you all to find better solutions and to pass it on if any (sic)." Goa electricity department's candid tweets on power disruptions(Screenshot (@GoaElectricity))

The tweet exchange quickly went and received hundreds of likes before it was (for reasons not yet clear) deleted Tuesday morning.

"Nice to see a human side to the handle then. I usually keep notifications on for updates assuming this was some large team behind it like some other government supported pages/handles. Anyway, thanks for the constant updates," one user wrote. "I love the way @GoaElectricity replies on @TwitterIndia about any complaints. It sounds very personal," another said.

"I'm not prepared to handle such [a] high degree of honesty from a government department's official account. Quite speechless," a journalist posted.

One tweet. however. remains up at the time of writing - a clarification that the account was not hacked! One of the Goa government's few active handles, @GoaElectricity was the initiative of former power minister Nilesh Cabral and then power secretary Kunal. The handle continues even though Cabral is no longer the minister and Kunal has been transferred out of Goa. Apart from personal replies, the handle has ensured complaints received via Twitter are promptly addressed, including complaints relating to power supply disruption, non-functioning streetlights, etc.

However, not everyone was pleased with the honesty of the reply.

"It is not the way an official department account should be handled. He is not responding as an individual but as a government entity," AAP's Surel Tilve said.

Others warned the operator s/he might face consequences for the tweeting.

(Except for the headline and the pictorial description, this story has not been edited by THE DEN staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)