Panchkula reels under power cuts

Tribune News Service

Panchkula, April 29

The city today witnessed power cuts for over seven hours at different times of the day, giving residents across sectors disturbed sleep as the outages began in the wee hours.

The first power cut was imposed for an hour between 2 am and 3 am. The power supply was once again snapped at 5 am for another hour.

What XEN says

Sanjeev Sharma, XEN, UHBVN, said it was unclear for how long the current power shortage situation would persist.

To the relief of residents, the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) has issued a tentative schedule of cuts. Besides, a 90-minute cut has been kept aside for the real-time scheduling/decision of the control room. The first unscheduled cut of the day was imposed at 6:23 am which lasted for just 11 minutes.

Against the proposed cut between 8 am and 8:30 am, the power supply remained snapped up to 9:25 am. The city also witnessed two-hour cuts, first from 10 am and 12 noon, and the second from 3:30 pm to 5:30 pm.

Meanwhile, the residents have questioned the timings of the cuts, saying that why some have been fixed for late nights as they were unable to sleep.

“Those who didn’t have a UPS or inverter at home, power cuts make their nights nightmarish,” said SK Nayar, president of the Citizens’ Welfare Association (CWA).

Furthermore, the frequent power cuts couldn’t come at a worse time as the city was witnessing hot and humid conditions with the mercury rising with each passing day.

Sanjeev Sharma, XEN, UHBVN, said it was unclear for how long the current power shortage situation would persist. “Everything is being managed at the state level. We just follow instructions from the top level and ensure their implementation at the ground level,” he said.

He added besides tentatively scheduled cuts for 6:30 hours a day, a 90-minute period had been set aside for acting as per the real-time situation.

“If the demand gets higher than supply at a certain time, then a cut is certainly inevitable,” he said.

The power cuts have also affected the water supply. “We have been left in the lurch as there is no coordination between the UHBVN and the HSVP to ensure water supply to the public during the morning and evening hours,” said a resident of Sector 15.

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