Power cuts haunt Malwa region as summer peaks

Varinder Singh

Tribune News Service

Bathinda/Faridkot, June 27

Despite being proclaimed a power-surplus state, unscheduled power cuts are reportedly being imposed in a majority of the districts, mainly in Malwa region.

The power corporation, however, denies the claim. “No power cuts are being imposed either on the domestic sector or the farm sector. We are providing electricity to the farm sector for a minimum of eight hours a day due to ongoing paddy transplantation,” said HS Khurmi, Chief Engineer, PSPCL, (Western Zone).

Maximum power outages are being witnessed for the past fortnight in the western region, which virtually remained a “power cut-free zone” during the 10-year tenure of the Badal government.

“We are facing power cuts every now and then. Even today, there was no electricity for at least 10 hours in our locality. The cuts are being imposed in the name of maintenance,” said Jagdish Singh Ghai, a former councillor and resident of Parasram Nagar locality in Bathinda.

Rampant power cuts were witnessed during the past one week in localities along Goniana road, North Estate, Bibi Wala Chowk, Ganesh Nagar and Guru Teg Bahadur Nagar of Bathinda city. In Faridkot, power outages for up to two hours a day are a routine. Gursewak Singh, a businessman based in the Civil Lines area of Ludhiana, said: “Power cuts are imposed unannounced mostly during the day, which we never witnessed in the past few years.”

The situation is worse in Kartarpur area of Jalandhar where Ghugh, Shore, Fazilpur, Pattar Kalan and Brahmpur villages face frequent power cuts. “Rural areas of Doaba are facing more trouble than urban areas. In certain villages, we don’t get power supply for the entire day. It also hampers the ongoing paddy transplantation operations,” said Kashmir Singh Ghughshore of the Pendu Mazdoor Union.