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Ludhiana: Blackout in Ghumar Mandi as speeding SUV rams into pole
The incident happened around 12.30 am on Saturday and electricity department was working to restore power to the market at the time of filing of the report
Ghumar Mandi descended into darkness after a speeding sports-utility vehicle (SUV) rammed into an electricity pole around midnight, leading to a power outage.
The incident happened around 12.30 am on Saturday and electricity department was working to restore power to the market at the time of filing of the report.
Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) executive engineer Rajesh Kumar said that they were working to bring power back to market and a formal complaint would be lodged with the police soon.
Division Number 8 station house officer inspector Harshpal Singh said that the matter was being looked into and they would identify the vehicle that caused the incident soon.
He added that they were waiting for a formal complaint from the PSPCL as the pole was their property.
According to the footage from closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera installed at the shop outside which the accident took place, the speeding SUV seemed to have lost control and hit a pole.
As the clutter of wires supported by the pole lay around on the road, the market, one of the busiest in the city, had to stay closed in the morning hours.
“We could only open our shops around 12:00 pm. We usually start he business by 9:30 am,” a shopkeeper said.
The market stayed without power the entire day as PSPCL workers worked to install a new pole and fix the wiring.
According to Gagandeep Singh, outside who shop the incident happened, the car was taken away by some people in the morning before anyone could reach the market.
The shopkeepers in the market said that it was taking time for the PSPCL to fix the wires because of the clutter of other cables.
“There are hundreds of cables hanging on these poles. These make it hard to fix problems and look bas. We have petitioned PSPCL repeatedly to remove the clutter, but they don’t pay heed to our complaints,” they alleged.
PSPCL officials said that cable operators had added these wires on the poles.
