Frequent power cuts add to summer woes in Noida

Noida Frequent unscheduled power outages have added to the woes of Noida residents already suffering due to high temperatures

Noida Frequent unscheduled power outages have added to the woes of Noida residents already suffering due to high temperatures. Children, too, have been facing a lot of problems while attending online classes during the daytime, parents complain.

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Suresh Chauhan, a resident of Sector 49, says there have been frequent power cuts in the area for the past three months. “Just like old times, when the Uttar Pradesh electricity board (UPSEB) was in charge, we are not keeping anything inside our refrigerators as it is of no use. We don’t have electricity for hours every day. There are no power backups at the builders’ flats in our residential complex, so we go through a lot of trouble... We also suffer from skin diseases due to heavy sweating.”

According to Santosh Kumar, a resident of Sector 77, he had to install an inverter at his flat as his son’s online classes got interrupted several times due to power outages. “We are planning to move to some other area, with better electricity connection,” says Kumar.

The Apartment Owners’ Association (AOA), too, has raised a complaint. Rajiva Singh, president of Noida Federation of Apartment Owners Associations (NOFAA) — an association of 71 high-rises in Noida — has sent a letter to the state minister of energy, Srikant Sharma, saying, “Despite tall claims made by the electricity distribution company, Discom, over Noida being a ‘no power cut zone’, the residential complexes have been suffering from unstable electricity supplies regularly. There are frequent power cuts and voltage fluctuation in Gautam Budh Nagar during the daytime, and sometimes, even at night... Such power failures are extremely worrisome, especially when many children attend online classes or appear for online examinations. People working from home also suffer a lot. Due to this poor situation, diesel generators are being used more, which adds up to the existing pollution.”

When contacted, Virendra Nath Singh, Noida divisional chief engineer of Pashchimanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited (PVVNL), said that “this has been happening due to faulty overhead supply lines”. “We have started replacing faulty lines, poles and transformers in Noida. We hope there won’t be power cuts after a day or two, besides the power failures during scheduled maintenance.”