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Millennium City reels under frequent power cuts
The Millennium City is once again reeling under frequent power cuts. Residents say they have been managing without electricity for 4-5 hours a day for the last few weeks. Dhananjay Jha reports.
The Millennium City is once again reeling under frequent power cuts. Residents say they have been managing without electricity for 4-5 hours a day for the last few weeks.
Consumers said the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitaran Nigam (DHBVN) was responsible for the problem and accused the distribution company of not taking action on their complaints.
“This time there is no short supply of fuel. The distribution company is responsible for the crisis. Frequent outages have started to affect our daily routine,” said Sudhir Kumar, a consumer.
Last month before Diwali, the city had to manage without power for about 11 hours a day. This happened mainly due to erratic supply of coal. Besides, some power plants in the state were not functioning properly.
“Power cuts often take place because of short circuits. But the distribution company has not taken any measures to prevent it. Besides, the agency never informs us in advance about power cuts,” said JS Dagar, another consumer.
In villages, the situation gets worse for the people as they are totally dependent on power supplied by the DHBVN. “Power cuts are taking place for hours these days. Last week there was no power for 24 hours in a stretch. We have made several complaints to authorities, but power situation has not improved,” said Rambir Singh of Narsinghpur village.
In condominiums, residents pay R12-14 per unit for alternative source like generator sets. “The DHBVN has failed to supply adequate power to the city. We have to spend a big amount on the alternative source of power,” said Vikas Gupta, a resident of Vatika City.
Officials said the company would take measures to prevent short circuits and other faults. “I admit that some technical reasons like short circuits and faults in transformers and electric line might cause power cuts. For that we are taking steps,” said Subhash Deswal, superintending engineer, DHBVN.
However, the official denied the allegation that the city is reeling under frequent power cuts. “We are supplying 120 lakh units per day, which is enough to feed the city consumers,” said Deswal.
He said that the World Bank had sanctioned R150 crore for power improvement in the city and there would be no crisis by 2012.
