Half of the city to face power outages today

Ramkrishan Upadhyay  

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 22

Almost half  of the  sectors  in the  city  will face  power cuts ranging from five to 10 hours tomorrow as the Electricity Department has decided to carry out the annual maintenance before Diwali.

Though there is no shortage of electricity, residents are facing power cuts due to the large-scale maintenance drive.

The  areas which will  remain without power tomorrow  include Sector 8, 9, 17, 18 and 21, CHB, Sector 9, parts of Sector 22, 31 and 41, the N&K area, parts of Sector 10, 11, 15, 16, 25, 27, 28, 41, 42, 44 and 45, Taj Hotel, Badheri village, Baterla, Aman & Chman Colony, GP Plant, parts of Sector 12, 34, 38 and 40, PEC, High Court, Ram Darbar, Phase II, parts of Sector 20 and 32, the MHC area, waterworks, duplex houses, Madiwala town, Shanti Nagar, Vikas police station, Mauli Complex, tubewell No. 5, Railway Colony, Railway Washing Plant, TA Camp, some  areas  of the Industrial Area, Phase XI, and Ram Darbar.

Officials said the maintenance was an annual feature where faults were repaired so that no inconvenience was caused during the main festival season.

MP Singh, Superintending Engineer, said branches of trees touching wires would be pruned. He said during the maintenance drive, faulty feeders, defective cables and wiring would also be changed. The maintenance work would go on till Diwali.

Residents, however, are fuming over the frequent power cuts, saying that the drive should be planned in such a way so that it causes minimum inconvenience. Sukhpal Singh, a  trader of Sector 21,  said  on the  one hand, the Administration was claiming that the city was on the way to becoming smart while on the  other, the  department was imposing  regular  cuts  for   hours.  

JERC rejects review petition for power tariff hike    

The  Joint Electricity Regulatory Commission (JERC) has rejected the  review petition filed by the Electricity Department to hike the rates  of electricity   to meet the revenue gap of Rs 208 crore. The commission has also not agreed to approve Rs 33.74 crore on account of depreciation of gross fixed assets.