Feeder faults trigger major power disruptions across Gurugram

Affordable housing residents alleged limited backup support and rising stress during frequent electricity failures.

By Abhishek Bhatia and Debashish Karmakar

(Representative image) Officials said the affected 33kV underground line was laid by the realtor and developed faults due to overloading. (HT Archive)

Residents across several parts of Gurugram, including sectors 37D and 66 and localities such as Om Nagar, Gandhi Nagar, Shivaji Nagar and Badshahpur, continue to face recurring power disruptions, with the latest major outage in Sector 37D affecting at least 5,000 families and lasting around 30 to 33 hours from Monday afternoon to late Tuesday night, according to residents and officials.

Residents said nearly five group housing societies in Sector 37D, several of them belonging to the affordable housing category without full power backup facilities, were affected due to faults in a shared 33kV underground feeder line connected to the 220/33kV substation in Sector 85.

Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam Limited (DHBVNL) officials said the 33kV feeder, laid by the realtor, developed a fault on Monday evening due to overloading, triggering the prolonged outage. Officials said the same feeder supplies power to both Ramprastha City and Signature Global societies.

Residents said the outage began around 2pm to 3pm on Monday and normal supply was restored around 11pm on Tuesday, although intermittent disruptions continued in some societies due to internal infrastructure issues.

“Diesel generator backups remain confined to common areas, leaving hundreds of families to struggle with basic amenities. A similar 30-hour outage occurred on April 23,” said Prakash Jha, a chartered accountant and resident of Signature Global Millenia-III in Sector 37D.

Jha said this was the second major outage within a month. “We faced another major power outage issue hardly 20 days back. We need urgent intervention so that such problems don’t take place in the future,” he said.

Residents said that on April 23, at least 11 societies between sectors 99 and 102 faced outages lasting up to 30 hours after an underground feeder was allegedly damaged at two locations during unauthorised high-intensity drilling work by a contractor.

Another resident, Ranjeet Kumar, said affordable housing societies were among the worst affected and alleged that support from authorities remained limited. “The existing cable network frequently trips due to an operational load falling short of the actual demand,” Kumar said.

Vijay Kinger, a resident of Ramprastha Society in Sector 37D, alleged that recurring outages during peak summer months were causing severe inconvenience to residents. “Neither the realtor nor the discom takes onus to fix the issues so that such outages during the peak summer season don’t take place. We pay maintenance, energy bills and all other utilities on time to the government as well as the realtor and instead end up suffering for hours in the absence of a power supply,” he said.

Dinesh Raina, one of the RWA presidents in Ramprastha society, alleged that both the realtor and the discom routinely shift responsibility during outages. “Representatives of the realtor handling the power supply allege that the outage is due to a fault from the side of the discom. When we contacted them, they alleged that fault in the 33kV private feeder laid by the realtor for powering the society was the cause of the outage,” he said.

Officials cite feeder faults, upgrade works

Manoj Kumar Nehra, executive engineer (city division), said there was no fault on the discom side. “It was the 33kV underground feeder supplying power to Ramprastha society which developed a fault by 4pm on Monday that triggered the outage,” he said.

Nehra added that although maintenance of the feeder was not the responsibility of the discom, teams assisted in restoration work. “Supply was restored by 12.58am on Tuesday. However, societies’ internal issues in the power supply infrastructure resulted in the further outages,” he said.

Manish Wadhwa, sub-divisional officer of the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam, said the prolonged disruption in Sector 37D was linked to feeder restoration issues. “The supplies in 37D are largely due to feeder restoration issues. Our teams timely intimate to the society management to rectify the fault line. A coordinated action is required for smooth functioning,” Wadhwa said.

In Sector 66 and nearby Badshahpur areas, residents said repeated outages over the past few weeks have started affecting commercial establishments. “The supplies through gensets cost at least three times as much, putting an excessive burden on small business owners, particularly those working in the services industry, such as restaurants, hotels and cloud kitchens,” said Aditya Singh.

Residents of old Gurugram localities, including Om Nagar, Gandhi Nagar and Shivaji Nagar, also reported frequent voltage fluctuations and outages every two to three hours.

In response, DHBVNL officials said transformer upgrades from existing 25kV to 630kV utilities are underway in growing sectors. “Apart from routine maintenance work, single-core cables have been replaced with insulated wires in the Om, Hira, and Shivaji Nagar localities. Double circuits have been provided in areas along the Pataudi Road,” a senior official said.

The official added that recurring cuts in some areas are often linked to “overhead breakdown” or “jumper burnt” incidents caused by high loads, adverse weather conditions affecting heated wires and preventative shutdowns for transformer safety. “Field teams work in three shifts around the clock to restore supplies,” the official said.