Power utility gets 3,800 plaints in last 24 hrs

Tribune News Service

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Amritsar, September 11

Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) registered 3,800 complaints during the last 24 hours as continuous rain and lightning largely affected the power supply network in the city.

Residents of several localities faced inconvenience as PSPCL failed to restore power supply even after 12 hours. As the downpour continued for the second consecutive day today (on Saturday), PSPCL employees faced inconvenience while repairing power supply lines.

Senior officials of PSPCL stated that lightning along with rain affected power transmission in the area. “The main reason behind the disruption of power supply is lightning during rain. Lightning activity damaged 10 power transformers in the city. It is not easy to replace the transformer on the spot. We have received most complaints from those areas where transformers failed due to lightning,” said Ashwani Mehta, Deputy Chief Engineer, PSPCL, Border Zone, Amritsar.

“It is lightning which causes more damage to them than rain or winds. In case of any loose connection, lightning burn the joints. Moreover, the shrubs and trees grown around supply lines also cause breakage of lines and failure of transmission,” said a junior engineer. PSPCL employees claimed that they had addressed 3,500 out of 3,800 complaints and restored the power supply in most areas.

“There are around 300 complaints which are yet to be addressed. Our teams are working on supply lines and power would be restored in each locality of the city soon,” said Mehta. Jatinder Singh, a resident of New Amritsar, said, “Power supply was hit at around 9 am on Friday and it was restored on 1.30 pm Saturday. A 16-hour power cut is horrible. It is inefficiency of PSPCL that they took so long to restore power supply.”