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Rain, thunderstorm wreak havoc in Ludhiana, leave several areas powerless
At least 134 electricity poles and 31 transformers were damaged in the city, according to the figures provided by the PSPCL
Rain and thunderstorm wreaked havoc in the city uprooting trees and damaging electricity poles and transformers late Wednesday evening, rendering large parts of the area powerless. Almost half the city plunged into total darkness with some areas remaining without power for around 20 hours as Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) struggled to get the damaged infrastructure up and running
At least 134 electricity poles and 31 transformers were damaged in the city, according to the figures provided by the PSPCL. The powercom claimed to suffer damages to the tune of ₹1.8 crore due to the storm.
While most of the areas bore the brunt of the power outage, the residents in the Model Town extension area suffered the most. The power went out at around 6 pm in the evening, as soon as the winds started, and was only back around 2 pm on Thursday.
“We had to stay up all night. The inverter went off in a few hours. Since we could not use the water pumps, the tanks were also empty, which made it even worse,” said Gurdeep, a local.
Atul Mongia, a resident of Passi Nagar, said, “I tried calling the complaint desk multiple times last night but couldn’t get through. It was only in the early morning that the power was back.”
Ludhiana east and west circles, which cover the city, received 12,226 complaints from Wednesday evening to Thursday morning.
A senior official in the powercom blamed the prolonged outage on shortage of staff. “The manpower that we have is stretched thin even to carry on the day-to-day business. And when hit by such an eventuality, there was total collapse.”
“If we don’t have strength needed for regular work, how are we supposed to be efficient during such incidents,” he said.
Chief engineer, Central Zone (Ludhiana), PSPCL, Inderpal Singh, said, “There was a sudden rush in complaints. But by now we have successfully resolved 90 % of it.”
