7-hour outage leaves Ludhiana residents high & dry

Kuldip Bhatia

Ludhiana, July 4

The power distribution system of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited failed yet again as residents in many localities in and around the Civil Lines area were forced to go without power supply for nearly seven hours during the day in the extremely hot and humid weather conditions.

Power Distribution system fails again

The truth of the power distribution system in the city having been strengthened to cope with the peak load during summer and paddy season was laid bare when attempts made by power officials to shift load to other grids and make available rotational power supply to part of the affected area also failed at the initial stage.

Power supply was disrupted due to a ‘flash in the bus bar (power distribution component at grid substation) at 66 kV Fountain Chowk Grid substation at around 11 am. Initially, several localities fed from the Ferozepur Road substation were also affected but power supply was restored in those areas after some time.

However, residents of most areas in and around Civil Lines – fed from Fountain Chowk substation, spent their day sweating, fuming and fretting as in many houses, shops and offices inverters also got exhausted within two-three hours and people had to bear the brunt of the adverse weather.

PSPCL officials said the defect in the bus bar was rectified and power switched on at around 3.30 pm but there was an explosion due to a short-circuit and the situation was back to square one.

The truth of the distribution system in the city having been strengthened to cope with the peak load during summer and paddy season was laid bare when attempts made by power officials to shift load to other grids and make available rotational power supply to part of the affected area also failed at the initial stage.

While the snag in the bus bar was still being attended to, power supply was ultimately restored, albeit partly, at around 6 pm.

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