City to be rendered powerless for 6 hrs tomorrow

Kuldip Bhatia

sLudhiana, July 13

Sunday morning would bring no cheer for residents simply because the power supply would be shut in most of the localities for six hours beginning from 7 am. The power shutdown is being taken by the protection and maintenance wing of the Punjab State Transmission Corporation Limited (PSTLC) for carrying out urgent maintenance work at the 200 kV sub-station in Lalton Kalan.

In fact, a majority of the residents have been at the receiving end for the past 4-5 days due to frequent disruption in power supply, which was being attributed to a technical snag in Lalton Kalan sub-station. As a result, many 66 kV sub-stations fed from Lalton were being shut on rotation basis all through the day. The snag-hit 220 kV sub-station could not take the entire load of the 66 kV sub-stations linked to it and nearly half of these had to remain shut during peak hours of the day.

Although the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) officials kept claiming that the snag had been rectified and normal power supply was restored since Thursday evening, in reality the power supply to the affected areas remained erratic even on Friday.

Residents in various localities complained that the supply was disrupted for nearly three hours during the day and even thereafter, power continued to play hide and seek till late evening. The only saving grace, however, was the weather, which had turned better since Friday morning with light rain in the city.

Even though the PSPCL officials claimed that once the maintenance (read intensive repair) was carried out at Lalton Kalan sub-station, the quality of power supply in the city would improve, residents are taking these claims with a pinch of salt and for the time being keeping their fingers crossed.