Frequent powercuts continue to haunt the residents of Urban Estate Phase 2. Adding to the existing woes is a dysfunctional transformer,which caught fire due to overloading on Sunday evening. The incident occurred around 6 pm and despite several complaints,the PSEB authorities failed to turn up. What is worse is the vague explanations put forth by the authorities. Consider this: when the authorities failed to turn up till 10 pm,the residents asked the Model Town extension complaint centre staff the reason for the delay. The authorities said their official driver had gone out and had also taken the keys of the vehicle. They later asked residents to arrange for their conveyance. The demand did not end here. They also asked the residents if they could arrange for a tractor for lifting the transformer as the authorities did not have any means to carry it. Irked with the response,the residents held protests outside the complaint centre. Thereafter,the authorities did not have any other option but to accompany them and complete the repair work. Refuting the claims of residents,Gurmail Singh Cheema,the SDO,said: The driver had gone out for some time. But our team did the work immediately and restored the power by midnight. Residents should also cooperate with us. The problem,however,is not limited to the Urban Estate. Even in Punjab Mata Nagar,when the Authorities had gone for repair work,they had asked for equipments like pliers and stairs from residents as they did not get anything from the store room. The residents of Rajguru Nagar have a different problem. The complaint centre never tells us the correct time of the scheduled powercuts. I had come from Patiala two days ago and was not aware of the powercut timings, said Harjinder Singh,a resident. When I asked the complaint centre,they told me that it was from 2 to 4 pm. But there was no power from 1 pm to 3 pm. Moreover,if there is a power failure at night,the staff never answers the call, he added. In Gurdev Nagar,one Harjaspal Singhs complaint was attended after three days. He had complained about electric current flowing in the pole outside his house. Last year,Rajguru Nagar residents had even broken the chairs of Agar Nagar complaint centre when their calls were not being attended. In Haibowal,some residents had even thrashed the complaint centre staffers,alleging that he was drunk. I am not aware of such incidents. But if anything of this sort happens,it will be checked, said PSEB Chief Engineer B S Bath. I have asked my division in-charge officers to supervise all the 21 complaint centres in Ludhiana till 10 pm. Surprise checks will be conducted. In future,if any staff member is found misbehaving or neglecting duty,they will not be spared, he added.
