600 MW shed,residents protest outage

“We would understand if one-hour long rotational loadshedding had to be carried out. But despite the government’s assurances that powercuts will not exceed one hour,we have faced cuts as long as three to four hours,” Gaurav Ahuja,a resident of Mayur Vihar,Phase-II,said.

Residents of Uttam Nagar,meanwhile,have resorted to ‘Gandhigiri’ and have threatened to go on a hunger strike. “For the past four days,we have had power only for eight to nine hours in a day. Last night,we did not have power almost all night and most people were walking around on the streets because it was too hot to sleep. Whenever we complain,we are told the discom is trying to restore supply. So,now we have decided to go on a hunger strike,” Chanchil Mukherjee,resident of Mohan Garden in Uttam Nagar,said.

As power supply remained affected on Wednesday,many consumers complained that they were unable to reach the discoms’ helplines. “We kept trying to call but we could not get through to their helpline. Either we would get an error message or be put on hold. I finally just gave up. I was told by neighbours that when a few people went to the local area office to complain,the officer in-charge locked the premises and refused to come out,” Deepti Trehan,a resident of Janakpuri,said.

In a high-level meeting called by the Chief Minister on Tuesday,the government appealed to citizens to co-operate as “loadshedding was likely to continue.” A senior power department official told Newsline,“A bulk of the loadshedding is due to under-frequency relays,which are caused when the grid gets pressurised due to overdrawal. Besides,there is a shortage. So even if we want to buy power from other states,there just isn’t any available.”

The peak demand on Wednesday was 4,096 MW.

Slum dwellers damage electrical sub-station
Noida: The slum dwellers in Sector 8,Noida,attacked a electrical sub-station on Tuesday night after power supply remained cut off for around four hours. “The slum dwellers broke the door and damaged the furniture of the electrical sub-station,” Deependra Narayan,a police officer on patrol duty in the area,wrote in the complaint registered against 20 to 30 villagers in Sector-20 police station. Police officers Vipin Tyagi,Sandeep Kumar and Acche Lal were deputed near the 220 KV electrical sub-station of Sector 20 when the slum dwellers attacked. “When we tried to stop the slum dwellers,they attacked us and we had to call for help,” Tyagi said.—ENS