Ludhiana: Fog-triggered snags disrupt power supply

According to officials, the Ludhiana central zone of the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) received over 6,963 complaints on Friday regarding the outages, primarily caused by technical faults triggered by fog

The moisture in the air due to dense fog amid the plummeting temperature has caused severe disruptions in power supply across Ludhiana, primarily in areas like Subhash Nagar, Jamalpur, Heera Colony and Grewal Colony, leaving residents grappling with prolonged outages for the past few days. Notably, the focal point division remains the worst hit, said officials familiar with the matter.

A foggy morning at the city railway station on Saturday. The dense fog across Ludhiana has reduced visibility, troubling motorists. (Gurpreet Singh/HT)

According to officials, the Ludhiana central zone of the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) received over 6,963 complaints on Friday regarding the outages, primarily caused by technical faults triggered by fog.

Surjit Singh, deputy chief engineer of the east circle, said 11 KV feeders in his area went out of service on Saturday, crippling power transmission to the focal point. “This area caters to both residential and industrial consumers. The outages have caused significant inconvenience,” he said.

In the CMC division, two feeders were shut down early on Saturday morning due to technical glitches which particularly catered to Heera Colony, said Rajinder Singh, XEN of the division. Singh further pointed out that they restored the transmission lines within two hours to resolve the inconvenience caused to residents at the earliest.

Jagmohan Singh, XEN of Sunder Nagar, confirmed similar issues in his area, stating, “Several feeders have been affected due to fog. Our teams of junior engineers and linemen are working tirelessly to address the problems and restore supply as quickly as possible.”

Despite these efforts, the prolonged outages have taken a toll on the daily lives of residents, who expressed their frustration. “Power cuts during this cold weather are unbearable. Our heaters and geysers are useless due to three to four hours of disruption,” said Nisha Sharma, a resident of Jamalpur.

Another consumer from Heera Colony, Rakesh Kumar, added, “The outages have disrupted our daily routines even though the power demand during this season remains significantly low. Authorities need to find long-term solutions to avoid such issues.”

No such outage has been reported in City Centre division, including areas like Model Town, Aggar Nagar and Jawahar Nagar where officials said the due to area’s mid location, it remains shielded from fog-related disruptions.