E-Paper
No end to power cuts in Kharar, Mohali; officials pin blame on overconsumption
PSPCL officials also blamed mushrooming of illegal paying guest accommodations in Phases 3, 5 and 7, along with Balongi and Kharar, leading to higher power consumption and subsequent outages
With no relief from long power cuts for over a week, residents of Kharar and Mohali continue to endure sleepless nights amid the searing heat.
After repeated four to five hour outages, scores of harried residents gheraoed the Sunny Enclave grid in the wee hours of Thursday, raising slogans against the electricity department.
However, officials from the department claimed that there was no shortage of supply, while attributing the frequent breakdowns to overloading caused by residents consuming more electricity than declared. This overconsumption leads to transformer breakdowns, which take time to repair.
Ankit Sharma, a resident of Mundi Kharar, said after braving a day-long power cut on Wednesday, there was no electricity again after 4 pm on Thursday.
On both days, long power cuts were also reported from Phase 7, Phase 5, Phase 3B2 and Sector 77, putting thousands of residents through hardship.
“While people were asleep, power went out around 1.30 am on Wednesday and returned only at 4 am. On Thursday, again there was a long outage in the day,” said Aman Rana, a resident of Phase 7.
Taranjit Singh, senior executive engineer, PSPCL, Mohali, reiterated that there was no shortage of supply in the state. “Punjab on Tuesday met the highest-ever demand of 14,000 MW. This is equal to the consumption until paddy season last year, while this year, paddy season has yet to start. The power cuts in Mohali and Kharar are due to overconsumption by residents, leading to overload on transformers,” he added.
PSPCL officials also blamed mushrooming of illegal paying guest accommodations in Phases 3, 5 and 7, along with Balongi and Kharar, leading to higher power consumption and subsequent outages. “People are renting out their rooms for extra income without informing authorities. For this, they install several air-conditioners without getting the load increased, resulting in power outages,” they said.
