Chandigarh experienced a six-hour power cut on Sunday. The cut,imposed on nearly half the city from 10 am to 4 pm,was due to a technical snag in the 56-KV sub-station located at Mohali. With the Mohali sub station,the 66 KV sub-station near the Punjab Civil Secretariat in Chandigarh also went out of order,resulting in the disruption. The worst affected areas included a few villages and the northern and southern sectors,including parts of Sector 34,35,36,36,38,39,40,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,48,49,50,51,28,14,15,17,18,19,20 and 27. Secretary (Engineering) Sanjay Kumar said,The power situation in Chandigarh is far better than neighbouring states. Mohali and Panchkula experience long power cuts every day. The situation is far better in Chandigarh. Had the Mohali sub-station not gone out of order,there would have been no power cut in Chandigarh today. However,Kumar did not rule out more power-cuts both scheduled and unscheduled in the coming days,if monsoon continues to evade the northern region. We have made adequate arrangements for the days ahead,but nothing can be ruled out. Still,if there is a need,power cuts would be introduced in industrial and commercial sectors first,followed by the domestic sector, Kumar said. The Bhakra Beas Management Board has already reduced Chandigarhs power supply by 18 megawatts (MW). However,the Administration has started trying to make up for the reduced supply. Officials said the Administration has asked the Jammu and Kashmir government to give 25 MW if the need arises. Meanwhile,senior officials said the Central governments monitoring committee has already issued warnings to Punjab and Haryana,asking them not to overdraw power. Punjab has overdrawn 300 MW and Haryana nearly 600 MW so far,more than their sanctioned quota. The UT Chief Engineer has been asked to keep a close watch and make arrangements from the national grid too,for which talks are on, another senior official of the UT Administration said. Illegal connections add to the loadSenior officials said in such times of crisis,unauthorised connections (famous as kundi connections) add to the load. Kundi connections,mainly in the slums on Chandigarh and Mohali border,are playing a vital role in increasing the load. People in these slums steal electricity,resulting in overloading and malfunctioning of transformers, a senior official of the Administration said. This problem persists mainly in Colony No. 5,which affects the power supply in the city. We have issued strict directions to officials to keep a watch on such unauthorised electricity connections and book violators under criminal law. Summer holidays in govt schools extended till July 7Taking note of the intense heat,the UT education department has extended the summer vacation in all government schools till July 7. In a meeting chaired by Home Secretary Ram Niwas and attended by private school principals of Chandigarh,it was decided on Sunday that in case the weather conditions remained the same,private schools too would follow suit.
