E-Paper
Power cuts lead to agitations
THOUGH THERE is no let-up in the heat wave, unscheduled power cuts continue unabated, with the result that disgruntled citizens have been staging massive protest and agitations in different parts of the city for the last one week. The situation worsened on Wednesday evening when almost the entire city faced power rostering at regular intervals.
THOUGH THERE is no let-up in the heat wave, unscheduled power cuts continue unabated, with the result that disgruntled citizens have been staging massive protest and agitations in different parts of the city for the last one week. The situation worsened on Wednesday evening when almost the entire city faced power rostering at regular intervals.
Dozens of localities including Ashok Nagar, Patrakar Colony, Rajapur, Stanely Road, Teliyarganj, Allahpur ,Civil Lines, Mumfordganj, and Katra etc remained worst affected till this morning. As a result the residents faced drinking water crisis in absence of power supply. However on being contacted the UPPCL officers held the low power generation responsible for the unscheduled power cuts. They said if the mercury continues to soar then the situation may deteriorate further. However local faults were being attended to on time, the officials claimed.
Annoyed at the unprecedented rostering at night, the activists of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha and Youth Congress Committee staged demonstrations in different parts of the city. Addressing a meeting Congress leader Mukund Tiwari here demanded that the state government must ensure 24-hour uninterrupted power supply in the city. He alleged that the State government was giving 'step-motherly' treatment to Allahabad and that was why the citizens were reeling under severe power crisis.
BJP leader Narendra Deo said that when towns such as Itawah, Saifai, Mainpuri and Jaswantnagar could get 24-hour power supply, then why could the city not get the same treatment Meanwhile, business community also came on the streets against the power cut. They said that the power crisis had hit them hard. and relying on their own power was often expensive, and added to the cost of services and products in an increasingly competitive global environment.
Meanwhile trans- Yamuna is grappling with acute water shortage because level of underground water has dropped sharply in Shankargarh, Bara and Meja areas. Thousands of families have been directly affected because of water crisis.
Shankargrah and nearby villages are also facing a serious water crisis .Dr Suneet Singh who completed Jal Yatra told the HT Live on Thursday that the silica washing plants consume large quantity of water which the villagers mostly draw from ponds thereby aggravating the water crisis further in the region. A 100-Bigha pond near Garhwa fort has already dried up and it has become a dumping ground for silica sand. He said that several ponds have dried up.
On the other hand as per directive of the State Government the District administration has arranged dozens of water tankers in the most affected areas in trans Yamuna said the ADM Finance and Revenue Ram Lochan Yadav. The government in its order said that if there was a difficulty in drinking water supply due lack of power supply or other reasons, then the help of water tankers form local bodies like Nagar Nigam, Nagar Mahapalika, Nagar Palika and Nagar Panchayat should be taken to save people from any inconvenience.
