Sector 99A power outage sparks concerns over delayed substation project

The outage lasted from 8pm to 4am after a 66 kV transmission line snapped near Narsinghpur, affecting 10 power feeders.

More than 10,000 residents across seven condominiums in Sector 99A were impacted on Saturday night after a nearly eight-hour power outage disrupted electricity supply from 8pm to 4am.

Sector 99A power outage sparks concerns over delayed substation project

The outage affected Pareena Lakshmi, Pareena Coban, Habitat 99A, Cosmos Express 99, Assotech Blith, Habitat Prime, and Pareena Elite.

A senior power distribution company official said that on Saturday evening, a 66 kV electric transmission line located along the Delhi-Jaipur highway (NH48) at Narsinghpur snapped, affecting 10 feeders of 11kV each. Power supply to two feeders was restored, but the rest took time due to technical reasons, he added.

Residents complained that frequent power cuts have become a routine, with interruptions of one to two hours reported almost daily.

“There are frequent power outages in the sector, usually lasting one or two hours every day. But this time, there was no electricity for nearly eight hours. Our inverters ran out of backup within three to four hours, after which we had to endure the humid conditions without any electricity,” said Parveen Thakur, a resident of Sector 99A.

Residents also flagged the lack of communication from the utility. “They should have at least told us the situation and how long it would take to repair it, so we could have thought of some other alternative,” said Santosh Kumar, another resident.

Residents pointed out that a 220 kV power substation, whose construction has been completed, has not been commissioned for over a year, a delay they said has contributed to the frequent outages.

Kumar added that while some societies have generator backup, many residents depend on inverters. “Once an inverter discharges after four to five hours, the situation becomes extremely difficult. Moreover, the high cost of running generators and maintaining inverters significantly adds to residents’ electricity expenses,” he said.

A DHBVN official said, “Due to heavy traffic on the NH, repair work saw some challenges. However, our team was constantly on the ground rectifying and fixing it. There was also a three-day shutdown on the Badhshahpur circuit for some scheduled maintenance work, hence there was unavailability of alternative supply,” the official said.

On the delay in the 220 kV substation project, he said construction had been completed, but commissioning was delayed because land was not available for laying transmission lines. “However, the work has now been initiated and will be completed within the next four to five months,” he added.