E-Paper
Power woes leave residents reeling in Prayagraj
Frequent outages, transformers catching fire and cable faults have become the order of the day in both rural and urban areas here
Amid intense heat wave conditions, frequent power cuts have thrown the normal life out of gear in Prayagraj.
The situation is worse in rural areas where residents claim that they are getting electricity supply for only 8 to 10 hours in a day at intervals of several hours.
Complaints of power tripping, cable fault and defunct transformers due to overload have become frequent in Prayagraj especially in old city areas where power theft (katiamari) is adding to the problems.
During last two days, incidents of power disruption was reported from multiple localities in the city which included Chandpur Salori, Shivaji Park, Bahadurganj, Gaughat, Sulaki Crossing, Atala, Kareli, Allahpur, Atarsuiya, Mehendauri, Rasulabad, Sadiapur, Ranimandi, Chowk and many other localities.
In some areas, incidents of transformers catching fire due to overload were also reported. In Katju Bag Colony, 250 KVA transformer caught fire following which residents had to face power cut for around seven hours on Tuesday.
Congress leader Irshad Ullah said there is no fixed time for power cuts. Residents of Bahadurganj, Gaughat, Chowk and other areas are going through immense difficulties due to irregular power supply. The problem worsens when power is disrupted during the night. Irregular power supply is playing havoc in densely populated areas where people have to spend sleepless nights due to humidity. Moreover, irregular power supply has hit business in Chowk and other areas, Irshadullah added.
In Gaus Nagar, Ainuddinpur, Gadda Colony of Kareli irregular supply is mainly due to local faults and overload, said a social activist Nadeem Ali. Power department employees are working hard to ensure regular power supply but they are unable to attend large number of complaints on time. More transformers are needed in Kareli area, he added.
Similar situation prevails in many of the localities of the city while rural region of trans-Ganga and trans-Yamuna also have the same story. A resident of trans-Yamuna area Pintu Singh said rural areas in the region are receiving 8 to 10 hours of power supply at intervals. Power disruption during the night is causing more problems as farmers are spending sleepless nights and are not able to work in the fields during the day. Despite making complaints to local power officials, faults in cables and transformers are not repaired on time, he added.
