Mayfield residents pool in Rs. 10 lakh to reinstate power

With the authorities turning a blind eye to their plight, denizens of the upscale Mayfield Gardens pooled in as much as R10 lakh to buy a new transformer when the old one developed a snag, triggering a 36-hour blackout.

With the authorities turning a blind eye to their plight, denizens of the upscale Mayfield Gardens pooled in as much as R10 lakh to buy a new transformer when the old one developed a snag, triggering a 36-hour blackout.

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According to the residents, the transformer, which catered to J Block flats, caught fire on Saturday night. Although the residents approached the district authorities, the latter refused to pitch in.

The power failure had impeded the water supply. Pushed to the wall, about 400 households in the block pooled in money to purchase the new transformer.

The Haryana government had cancelled the licence of the promoter in February this year due to non-payment of renewal fees. The government set up a committee to ensure the maintenance of the colony, but it washed its hands of the responsibility when asked to bear the cost of the repair work.

The 630KV transformer caught fire at 9.30pm on Saturday night, leaving the 387 flats devoid of power. The blaze also damaged underground cables and a submersible pump. The discom refused to intervene as the transformer was installed by the promoter.

On Sunday, the residents hired a transformer of the same capacity by paying R2,000 as rent for a day. The transformer was installed only at 2.30am on Monday and power was partially restored. “We realised the underground cable had been damaged at several points only when electricity was restored. To rectify the snag, we have hired a machine and experts from Delhi. We hope that we would be able to get full water and power supply by Tuesday morning,” said DC Yadav, a resident.

As many as 50 flats of the block are still in dark and are dependent on private tankers for water supply.

A 630 KV transformer costs R4-5 lakh. Add to that the repairing cost of cables and submersible pump and the total can set one back by a good R10 lakh.

Residents sought the help of the director general town planning department (DG-TCP) and Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN), but in vain.

They even approached Huda administrator Praveen Kumar — who was made the chairman of the committee responsible for the maintenance of the colony after the cancellation of licence — to bear the cost of transformer. However, even that effort failed.

“The administrator, on his visit on Sunday, said he was helpless. Sanjiv Chopra of the DHBVN too refused to help, saying the developer has not paid R47 crore to DHBVN while the builder said his licence stands cancelled,” said Vineet Saxena, another aggrieved resident of Mayfield Garden — a privately-developed area.

Fed up with all the refusals, the residents decided to contribute R3,000 per flat for hiring the requisite capacity transformer. “The transformer belonged to the developer who fled. We are helpless … we can’t provide any help to the residents,” said Sanjiv Chopra, superintending engineer, DHBVN.