PSPCL schedules power cuts till April 26, Cong MLA questions govt’s ‘surplus’ claim

The power corporation has maintained that the outages are part of the pre-planned maintenance aimed at improving supply during peak summer demand. However, the maintenance’s timing has drawn criticism from within the department itself.

Ajaypal Singh Atwal, General Secretary (PSEB Engineers Association), said, “…every year we used to do maintenance in winters when demand is less and even consumers don’t feel bad in case of a scheduled power cut. Maintenance is very delayed this time and the power minister or the PSPCL management should explain the reason for this delay… PSPCL staff are at the receiving end of consumers in different sub-stations.”

Punjab Power Minister Sanjeev Arora said in a post on X, “Planned outages as publicised by @PSPCLPb are aimed at improving power supply through system upgrades. The inconvenience caused is regretted, but these improvements will greatly benefit consumers in the long run.” Arora is currently on an official visit to the Netherlands along with Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.

On Wednesday, over 50 colonies in Ludhiana, including Shakti Nagar, Pink Flats, Sargodha Colony and industrial areas such as Area A, Cheema Chowk and Bahadurke Road, remained without power from 10 am to 5 pm. In Patiala, areas including Prem Nagar, Bhadson Road and Adarsh Nagar faced outages from 1 pm to 5 pm. Similar scheduled cuts affected not less than 50 residential areas each in Bathinda, Amritsar, Jalandhar and Mohali.

The president of Federation of Industrial and Commercial Organisation, Gurmeet Singh Kular, said, “We demand the immediate resolution for the industrial unscheduled Power Cuts from PSPCL. Apart from scheduled maintenance, industry is facing unscheduled shutdowns as well.”

Meanwhile, Congress MLA Pargat Singh questioned the AAP government which claims the state to be power-surplus. The MLA attacked the AAP government and said the party has pushed the state into a severe electricity crisis.

“The Chief Minister is busy with foreign tours while a gap of around 1,500 MW has emerged between power demand and supply in Punjab, which will worsen with rising temperatures. Farmers are also receiving little to no electricity supply.”

He said, “If conditions continue, long outages may also occur during night time. The Punjab power utility has failed to bridge the electricity shortage.” He also said in the past week power demand in Punjab has surged sharply from 6,500 MW to over 10,000 MW.

“At present, no electricity is being supplied to the agricultural sector, yet Powercom is unable to meet demand. Consumers are also not being given accurate information through helpline numbers.”

The MLA said some senior officials in Powercom have admitted that meeting demand before April 28 is not possible.

Once paddy transplantation begins, electricity supply will have to be diverted to the agricultural sector which will further widening the gap between demand and supply, he said. “The government has failed to cover Powercom’s losses. It had widely publicised the purchase of a coal mine, but neither the mine nor coal is visible.”

Amid the ongoing situation, the joint action committee of power engineers, employees and pensioners has written to CM Mann, seeking withdrawal of the power portfolio from power minister, citing a prima facie conflict of interest. The letter, dated April 22, alleged that certain real estate firms under investigation by Central agencies are directly or indirectly linked to the minister’s family, referring to a recent Enforcement Directorate raid. They argued that allowing the minister to continue handling the department could compromise neutrality and erode public trust.

Calling the issue one of “grave public importance”, the unions demanded that the portfolio be reassigned in the larger interest of the Punjab power sector.