Week on, no relief from power outages in Mohali

Several parts of Mohali are reeling under power cuts amid intense heatwave conditions.

Residents are complaining that power cuts have thrown life completely out of gear. They have nowhere to go with sun beating down fiercely outside and power cuts making it impossible to stay inside homes. Many parts of Mohali are facing six to eight-hour-long power cuts for the past more than a week.

In Zirakpur, Jamuna Enclave, Ravindra Enclave, Baltana and MS Enclave, Dhakoli, residents have slammed the authorities for outages. In Shiva Enclave of Babhat area of Zirakpur, women and children sat on the road in protest against six-hour power cut on Friday night. They said there was no regular electricity supply in the area for the past one week. Electricity wires are hanging loosely in their locality, resulting in frequent snapping by vehicles.

Former Dera Bassi MLA NK Sharma of SAD, along with scores of residents, visited the Ramgarh Bhudda grid near Zirakpur on Friday evening and complained about the week-long crisis. He asked power officials to provide an immediate solution to the problem.

“Power grids have not been upgraded for a long time. There is acute staff shortage, recruitment has come to halt and the entire structure has collapsed in the AAP government. On top of it, officials are scaring innocent village residents by conducting surprise inspections in villages. What is the use of free power if you cannot ensure supply in peak summer season? People are being forced to spend money on inverters and gensets. SAD will stage a massive protest outside the PSPCL Executive Engineer’s office on June 16 at 10 am,” Sharma said.

In Lalru and nearby villages, residents said electricity was available barely for half an hour on the stretch followed by three to four hours of power cuts.

“PSPCL officials are neither picking up official phones nor restoring electricity supply,” rued Sidharth Thakur, a Baltana resident.

In Mohali’s Aerocity, residents are facing the double whammy with erratic electricity and water supply for the past two weeks. “Neither PSPCL employees nor GMADA officials show any concern to the problems of residents here. People have bought plots and flats by paying huge sums of money, but basic infrastructure is still poor here,” said Prahlad Singh, an H Block resident.

PSPCL officials said the power demand peaked in the past two weeks abruptly. They expressed helplessness by saying that during peak power demand and overloading, they were compelled to impose power cuts to avoid blackouts.

Sector 80 residents said it was a horrible day with a six-hour cut in the afternoon.