Power cuts pester Zirakpur residents

Satinderpal Singh

Zirakpur, May 24

With the mercury hovering above 40 degree Celsius, power outages, stretching from seven to eight hours daily, have added to woes of Zirakpur residents, exposing claims of providing adequate electricity supply by the state government.

Sunny Enclave, Maya Garden, Phase III, Garden Villa and parts of Baltana are the worst hit. According to residents of Sunny Enclave, the power supply was disrupted on Wednesday around 10.30 am and was restored only in the evening.

Similarly, at Maya Garden and Garden Villa in Zirakpur, the power supply was cut off in the morning on Thursday. It was restored only around noon.

Residents alleged that unscheduled power cuts had become a routine, with some areas facing outages for more than six hours a day. The same situation continues in the night as well.

Apart from the erratic electricity supply, dry taps too are adding to their troubles. Those living in apartments said if the situation continued for long, the cost of living might go up. “When generators are running overtime to meet the power demand, it is only natural that we will have to pay more in maintenance charges,” said residents.

“Power cuts are a major problem in our area. I had bought an inverter, but we are still facing the problem. Sometimes, due to long-duration electricity cuts, the inverter remains uncharged, adding to the woes,” said Vandana Shandal, a resident of Garden Villa, Zirakpur.

Another resident, Sushma Verma, rued, “It is very difficult to manage daily chores due to long-duration power outages. We are also facing an acute shortage of water.”

Sanket Dhall, a resident of Sunny Enclave, said while people were suffering from power cuts, officials in Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) claimed that the power distribution system was well managed and there were no power cuts.

“I tried to lodge a complaint four times in this regard on power helpline but the phone was not picked by officials,’” said Harpal Singh, another resident. When contacted, NS Rangi, XEN, Zirakpur, was asked about the exact reason of power cuts, he said wires were damaged due to excessive heating. He further added that increasing load damaged wires.