Downpour disrupts life in Mohali, Panchkula; power supply affected

Strong winds and rain throughout the night and no power supply since morning, threw normal life out of gear in the Tricity. Many parts of Zirakpur, Mohali, Kharar, Nayagaon and Panchkula remained powerless till late in the evening.

Children and office goers faced a lot of hassles indoors and outdoors on Friday. Since morning, there was a huge rush of vehicles and long traffic jams on all major roads, especially Airport Road.

Strong winds and rain, uprooted trees in Mohali and Panchkula, leaving the twin cities powerless since last night.

Official work suffered at the Mohali’s District Administrative Complex in Sector 76 due to power outage. There was no power supply at the sub-registrar office, the waiting area and the Easy Registry facilitation centre during the office hours. Visitors were seen waiting here in the dark.

At Badhmajra, a bovine was electrocuted after coming in contact with naked wires of a junction box. Irate local residents criticised the Municipal Corporation’s and the administration’s lackadaisical approach in dealing with stray cattle menace. Area residents said there was a continuous danger and threat to the public safety here.

In Sector 70, an empty water tank fell from a roof and got entangled in electricity wires in the morning. Ward councillor Sukhdev Patwari said, “We have informed the Fire Department and Punjab State Power Corporation Limited to remove the tank, which has been dangling precariously on wires for more than five hours, and restore electricity. But, no one has come here to restore the power supply.”

Outside Phase-1 police station, a large, green tree collapsed, leading to inconvenience and power outage in the area for hours.

Scores of large trees were uprooted in the residential and market areas in Mohali’s Phase 7 and Phase 10 since last night. These trees snapped power cables leading to collapse of electricity poles on vehicles and boundary walls alongside roads.

In Panchkula, Sector 6, an uprooted tree fell on electricity wires after which a cemented power pole collapsed and fell on a vehicle parked alongside the road.

In Kalka, a tin shed of Kali Mata Mandir collapsed in strong winds. No one was injured in the incident.

Transmission tower falls on Banur-Bhabat 66 kV line

Due to widespread rain accompanied with strong wind, electricity supply was effected in many parts of Mohali district. Main reason for outages was uprooted trees falling on electricity supply lines and breaking poles and transformer structures. An under construction transmission tower fell on Banur-Bhabat 66 kV line leading to major power disruption in the Zirakpur area.

17-hour power outage

Joint action committee for the Welfare of Baltana Residents president Pratap Singh Rana said, “Ram Vihar Complex is in darkness since the last 17 hours. With no electricity, there is severe water shortage in homes, causing unbearable hardship for the elderly, children and patients.” He warned that if the power and water supply was not restored within the next few hours, the joint action committee would be forced to stage a protest, along with residents, for which the administration would be solely responsible. In Lalru also, there was eight to 10 hours power cut.

2 cars of a family damaged

Friday proved to be a gloomy day for Mohali’s Sector 71 resident Tarlochan Singh as two cars of his family were badly damaged when a tall tree on the vehicles today afternoon.

Panchkula sans electricity

Residents of several parts of Panchkula complained of eight to 10 hours of power outage today. Shops, business establishments and residential areas remained powerless throughout the day on Friday. The inclement weather created numerous problems for residents and forced them to remain indoors. Trees were uprooted at two locations in Sector 11 and at three places in Sector 23. However, no one was injured. Residents of Sector 11, 12, 13 and 14 complained of no power supply since morning. Uprooted trees resulted in a blackout in several sectors from 5 am to 2 pm. “Faults started recurring as soon as the power line was made operational,” officials said.