Zirakpur residents, who have been braving regular power outages this summer, will now have to bear a 35-hour-long power cut, beginning 6am on Monday. Power will return at 5pm on Tuesday. Reason: Scheduled infrastructure upgrade.
Despite soaring temperatures, Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) has announced the “rotational” cut, which is set to leave the residents high and dry.
However, in the release issued by the PSPCL additional superintendent engineer, Zirakpur operation division, there is no clarity on for how long each area will have to remain without power.
“Due to augmentation of power transformer capacity at the 66kV substation in Dhakoli, scheduled rotational cuts will be imposed in the area — Dhakoli, Peer Muchalla, Dhakola, Wadhwa Nagar, Harmilap Nagar, Green City, Mamta Enclave, Baltana, Nagla Road, Bazigar Basti, Bishanpura, Ghazipur, K-area, Sanouli and nearby areas from 6am on June 4 to 5pm on June 5,” reads the schedule.
{{/usCountry}}“Due to augmentation of power transformer capacity at the 66kV substation in Dhakoli, scheduled rotational cuts will be imposed in the area — Dhakoli, Peer Muchalla, Dhakola, Wadhwa Nagar, Harmilap Nagar, Green City, Mamta Enclave, Baltana, Nagla Road, Bazigar Basti, Bishanpura, Ghazipur, K-area, Sanouli and nearby areas from 6am on June 4 to 5pm on June 5,” reads the schedule.
{{/usCountry}}“This is a scheduled rotational power cut,” said sub-divisional officer (SDO) Rohit Kumar. “During the shutdown, every two hours we will be supplying power to different areas on rotational basis from different feeders.”
The SDO said once the Dhakoli grid capacity is increased, the town won’t have to face frequent power cuts. Dhakoli is the only substation supplying power to Zirakpur. Another substation at Baltana was announced in 2006, but didn’t materialise.
To hit water supply
With summer at its peak, the power shutdown is also set to hit water supply. It is being supplied from tubewells in the area. “The time is not right time for the upgrade,” said Manoj Dass, general secretary, Confederation of Residents Welfare Association, Zirakpur (North). “We will have to face a lot of inconvenience. The PSPCL has announced a shutdown of shut of 35 hours, but I doubt things will return to normal even after that.”
Sanjeev Bansal, who has a chemist shop in the Zirakpur’s main market, said, “We should be prepared for the worst. I will buy diesel to survive the power cut.”
The dust storm on May 12 had uprooted electricity poles and damages the feeders, leaving Zirakpur residents without power and water for over 12 hours while there were some areas, including Maya Garden and peripheral villages, where power resumed after 16 hours.