Power cuts trouble Old Delhi residents, CM promises action

NEW DELHI: Power outages were reported from a few areas of the city on Wednesday even as chief minister Arvind Kejriwal conducted a visit late on Tuesday night for a spot check.

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In Burari, Wazirabad and parts of the Walled City in North Delhi, and Najafgarh in South Delhi, residents suffered due to outages. In East Delhi, in areas such as Krishna Nagar, Gandhi Nagar, Shahdara, Bhajanpura and Raghubarpura, power supply was hit for about 4-6 hours due to a technical glitch.

In many other areas such as Kailash Nagar and Azad Nagar, it ranged from half-an-hour to two hours.

On Tuesday night, Kejriwal went to Seelampur in East Delhi to inspect complains about repeated power cuts. He was there to inspect allegations of deliberate power cuts in the area during iftaar (the breaking of fast) and sehri (morning meal before starting the fast).

He criticised the power department officials and asked them to ensure that no power cuts should occur due to cable failure. “No power cuts will be tolerated during iftar and sehri,” the chief minister said.

The Delhi government on Tuesday had accused two electricity distribution companies of “atrocious” performance and sought a road map to improve the power situation in the Capital.

The BSES, however, said it was committed to provide reliable power supply to its consumers.

“We make special arrangements during festivals and are fully geared up to attend to any unforeseen exigency during the holy month of Ramzan. Despite unprecedented and continuous high power demand during summer, our distribution network has been able to largely measure-up,” a BSES official said.