Unscheduled power cuts amid heatwave leave residents fuming

The temperatures are soaring to 40°C and residents have started bearing the brunt of the heat wave. They are also suffering due to unscheduled power cuts in many areas of the city, including Civil Lines, Rani Jhansi Road, Dandi Swami Chowk and a few parts of the Mall Road area.

The residents rued that unscheduled power cuts and voltage fluctuations were causing inconvenience to them. They feel that the summer season has just started but with it, power cuts had also been imposed by the authorities. “It’s April, the temperature is already around 40°C and unscheduled power cuts near the Sham Singh Road area was troubling residents,” said Neelima, a resident.

Meanwhile, for addressing issues of the residents, area councillor Nandini Jairath has made a WhatsApp group in which residents could share their problems. Almost every day, they complain about facing voltage fluctuations or power cuts.

“We are getting sporadic complaints of power outage from a few areas but we try to get the same resolved as soon as possible by conveying the concerns to the PSPCL. The department is laying new transformers (repaired or new) due to which residents are facing issues but these will be redressed soon after completing the works,” Jairath said.

Meanwhile, Chief Engineer, PSPCL, Jagdev Singh Haans, said there were several issues. The work of feeder bifurcation was going on in many areas in West Circle. Besides, trees, which are touching electricity wires, were being trimmed.

“Residents have to bear with us for another 10 days or so till all works get completed,” he said.

One of the residents, however, complained that since domestic consumers were getting free power up to 300 units, the government in an attempt to cover up those losses, had started imposing power cuts. Power is also being diverted to the industry to balance the revenue.

Ludhiana