The Aam Aadmi Party government’s claim of ensuring adequate power supply is falling short of public expectations, as recurring outages continue to hit both urban and rural areas of the district during peak summer.
The Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd (PSPCL) officials are facing the wrath of residents in urban areas and farmers in villages after they failed to provide uninterrupted power supply when it was needed the most.
In some villages of Dera Bassi and Lalru, PSPCL has provided power only for two hours in the past two days. PSPCL employees were gheraoed by irate villagers in Mubarikpur and Lalru. The protesters also raised slogans against the Punjab Government and Dera Bassi MLA.
Yesterday, several areas of Kharar remained powerless from 6 pm to 2 am. Hospital Road had been without electricity since morning and the supply was resumed in the afternoon. In Mullanpur, PSPCL has not been able to complete line augmentation for the past three months.
In Zirakpur’s Preet Colony, women, elderly and children put up cots on the road to get some respite as electricity eluded the area.
Former Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu of the Congress said, “During the most crucial period of paddy sowing, neither is canal water reaching the fields nor is adequate electricity being provided. Farmers are forced to spend Rs 6,000-7,000 on diesel to run gensets to irrigate fields.”
“Residents are being forced to endure hours of unscheduled outages in the scorching heat, while the government remains busy with advertisements and publicity,” said Vineet Joshi, state media head, BJP.
The worst-affected areas include Darpan Green, Darpan City, Garden Colony, Ajit Enclave, Guru Nanak Enclave, Dhindsa Colony, Hidden City, Ranjit Nagar, Shivjot Enclave, Shivalik City, Ekam Onkar City, Mundi Kharar, Sunny Enclave and Model Town. Despite repeated complaints by residents to the PSPCL officials, the situation has seen little improvement.
Joshi added that erratic electricity supply is causing serious economic distress to traders, shopkeepers and small businesses dependent on uninterrupted power for refrigeration, machinery and daily operations.
Zirakpur residents complained that PSPCL cannot even provide accurate information about timings of power cuts. Today, the shutdown time for commissioning of new 20 MVA power transformer on the 66 KV Ramgarh Bhudda grid was scheduled from 11.30 am to 12.30 pm. During the time, power supply to many areas, including Lohgarh, Singhpura, PR-7 Road and VIP Road, was affected. Later, the power cut was extended to 3 pm. After some time, another message was issued stating that all 11 KV feeders originating from 66 KV Ramgarh Bhudda, Baltana, Bhabat and Dhakoli grids would remain shut from 2 pm to 4 pm, due to which power supply to all areas under Zirakpur division was affected.
Kharar PSPCL executive engineer Amanpreet Singh Mavi said, “Kharar city requires 320 MVA of power, for which two grids of 160 MVA each have been installed. Power cuts are being imposed due to a lack of supply from the source.”
