People had to suffer a power shutdown in the past two days after heavy winds lashed the city on Saturday night. The network of the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) collapsed after the storm and people had to face the consequences of the unresponsive complaint redressal system.
Balwant Singh, resident of Guru Teg Bahadur Nagar here, said, "The power breakdown in our locality took place at around 1.30am on Saturday night. We tried to make calls to the PSCL's complaint number, but it was not responding. Inverters also became ineffective after a few hours.
Once officials arrived at 4am, they failed to resume the power. It was the first day for children to go to school after the summer break on Monday but there was no water and electricity. Power was only resumed around 10am."
Rakesh Sharma of Guru Gobind Singh Nagar said, "We have spent two sleepless nights waiting for the officials to resume power. It is inhuman to keep people waiting for power in such a hot weather. The PSPCL has failed to respond to the calls of people."
Sunil Khanna of Model Town, Phase 1, said, "The problem with our supply line was not related to storm, but it definitely worsened with the storm. We have been making complaints for the past two weeks about the sudden breakdowns taking place in our supply line, but the PSPCL officials do only temporary repairs. They never try to fix the problem. The problem worsened during the storm and we had to spend sleepless nights. Officials did not respond to our repeated calls."
{{/usCountry}}Sunil Khanna of Model Town, Phase 1, said, "The problem with our supply line was not related to storm, but it definitely worsened with the storm. We have been making complaints for the past two weeks about the sudden breakdowns taking place in our supply line, but the PSPCL officials do only temporary repairs. They never try to fix the problem. The problem worsened during the storm and we had to spend sleepless nights. Officials did not respond to our repeated calls."
{{/usCountry}}PSPCL executive engineer HD Goyal said, "What can we do if the complaint mobile number was too busy to receive the calls. I am still busy in addressing the complaints."
When asked if there is any time limit to fix the problem after a complaint is made, GS Dhaliwal, chief engineer, distribution, West Zone, PSPCL, said, "There is no time limit when there are situations like rain and storms."