Ludhiana reels under unscheduled power cuts

Kuldip Bhatia
Ludhiana, July 1

With the persistent dry spell and a spurt in demand for power in the past few days, the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) has imposed regulatory measures to plug the yawning gap between the demand and availability of power. While the mixed and urban feeders were subject to power cuts, ranging between an hour and a half to three hours in some cases, the power intensive and large supply (LS) consumers have been directed to observe compulsory two-day off every week starting from 4 pm today (July 1 to July 3).

Residents of several localities along the Ferozepur Road, Durgapuri in Haibowal, Chandigarh Road, Basti Jodhewal, Basti Mani Singh and various old city localities, complained of nearly two-hour long outages twice in the day. The power supply remained shut down in Civil Lines for almost an hour this afternoon and then again in the late evening, causing inconvenience to people.

In some areas of Haibowal, falling under Aggar Nagar Division of PSPCL, and Basti Mani Singh, residents complained that power supply remained disrupted for the whole night while in some adjoining areas, voltage was either very low or kept fluctuating. “We had to switch off all electrical appliances fearing damage from unstable voltage,” a Durgapuri resident said.

Residents of various localities blamed the PSPCL staff for apathy and indifference. They said even as they suffered due to power failure during the night and had to go without water supply in the morning as well, the officials remained oblivious and repeated complaints went unheeded.

A resident of Basti Jodhewal said the spurt in demand for power in this particular season (peak paddy sowing and extremely hot weather) was not a new phenomenon, but despite the tall promises of assured supply, both the political leadership and the PSPCL top brass had failed to take timely measures to arrange additional power supply. “We are paying a heavy price for poor power management by the government and the PSPCL management,” he rued.

Sources at the PSPCL headquarters indicated that the total demand for power in the state had exceeded 14,000 MW while the availability from all sources (including Bhakra and central grid) was not more than 12,800 MW. “We are finding it tough to manage the situation, even as three units of Guru Gobind Singh Thermal Power Plant at Ropar and four units at Lehra Mohabbat are generating 550 and 830 MW additional power,” the source added.

Meanwhile, as an emergency measure, the PSPCL management has directed all general industry (LS) consumers, rolling mills and induction furnace units fed from category 2 and 3 feeders in the entire Central Zone to observe two compulsory weekly off days with immediate effect.