Midnight drama in Kharar’s Sunny Enclave as residents barge into power substation over frequent unscheduled cuts

Tribune News Service

Gaurav Kanthwal

Mohali, May 23

Irked over hours long unscheduled power cuts every day, Sunny Enclave residents’ patience gave in on Wednesday night as they staged a protest at the Kharar substation.

Following searing heat and the increasing demand for farm power supply, Punjab recorded one of the highest power demands ever for the month of May with the demand crossing 14,000 MW.

Fuming residents barged inside the substation late at night and demanded to know the reason for daily outages.

PCR vehicles rushed to the spot to pacify the angry residents as situation started to turn volatile in pitch darkness.

"This is a daily thing here. There is no power in the afternoon and at nights in Kharar. No PSPCL official picks up the helpline number, what do we do," said an angry protester.

An hour-long negotiation with the employees remained unfruitful even as the senior PSPCL officials remained unavailable at the spot.

Unconvinced, the protesters later resorted to sloganeering against the PSPCL officials outside the substation.

"It took around an hour-and-a-half before power was restored in most parts of the Sunny Enclave area," PSPCL officials said on Thursday morning, without elaborating the reason for late-night escalation.

As a precautionary measure, two PCR vehicles were posted at the substation at night.

With peak summer season on, Mohali, Kharar, and Zirakpur areas are witnessing frequent power cuts for hours.

Although PSPCL officials attribute these to maintenance work, residents complain that inability to meet increased consumption and a ramshackle infrastructure is the reason behind it.

Free, uninterrupted power supply is one of the poll planks of the AAP government in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

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