Renu Paswan (right) left her husband Shashi Bhushan Paswan's house in Barni village in Bihar's Patna district. Renu Paswan (right) left her husband Shashi Bhushan Paswan's house in Barni village in Bihar's Patna district.

Power crisis appears to have become the latest factor behind marital discords in Bihar these days. A young Dalit woman from Patna has refused to stay at her in-laws' place because their village does not get adequate electricity supply.

Renu Paswan, daughter of Premnath Paswan from Mithapur locality in the state capital, had got married three years ago to Shashi Bhushan Paswan, a resident of Barni village under Dhanarua police station in Patna district. But she could not adapt herself to the rural life at her in-laws' village, due to frequent and prolonged power cuts in the area.

After spending some time at her husband's village, Renu decided to return to her parents' house on the outskirts of Patna where the supply of electricity was relatively better. Since then, her husband constantly tried to persuade her to return to his village but she declined.

According to local police, Renu visited her in-laws recently after the birth of her son for a family celebration. But after finding no change in the power situation, she decided that she wanted to return to Patna again.

Besides, she was also unhappy over the unhygeinic environment created by filth from a poultry farm near her husband's house. On Thursday, when one of her husband's relatives took her son out of the house, she objected to it, saying that the dirty surroundings would harm her child. This infuriated her husband's family members who fought with her and others who had accompanied from her parents' home.

Thereafter, the matter reached the Dhanarua police station where the police tried to solve the matter amicably. But both sides remained adamant on their stand.

The woman said that she would not be able to stay there. Renu's husband told the police that she had always been cribbing about the inadequate power supply to the village.

He, however, claimed that the power situation had improved considerably at his village in the past couple of years. "Our village used to get only seven to eight hours of electricity earlier, but now it is receiving up to 15 hours every day," he said.

But that was apparently not enough for his wife to stay back.

The news about Renu's return spread like wild fire in the area. The residents of Barni, however, supported Renu's husband saying that the electricity situation at the village was not so bad that she was unable to live there.

Interestingly, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has been making efforts to improve the power scenario across the state over the past nine years. Though the situation has improved to a great extent, several villages are yet to be electrified in the state.

Nitish has vowed that he would not go out to seek the votes of the people in the next Assembly elections in the state if he is unable to make the power scenario better by then.