Mohali continues to reel under long power outages

The power supply in many areas of Mohali and Kharar on Wednesday was affected leaving residents irked in the scorching heat.
Due to a fire in the power grid in Phase 1 on Tuesday, the supply was affected in many residential and industrial areas of Mohali, with residents shelling out money for costly diesel for their generators.

Kulwant Singh, former president of Residents Welfare Association (RWA), Phase 11 and present councillor of ward number 18, said that he had been raising the issue in his area for a long time but no heed has been paid. Kulwant added that there are many unscheduled power cuts and power fluctuations. “People complained of power fluctuation in our area due to which many electric appliances get affected,” he said. Bedi also said that the Punjab State Power corporation Limited’s (PSPCL) mechanism of lodging complaints is also very erratic as the helpline number does not work. He alleged that even the online complaints are ignored by the PSPCL.

Manpreet Singh, a lawyer in the district court, said that there is an issue in rural areas as they face long power cuts without prior notice. Mohali Deputy
Mayor Kuljeet Singh Bedi also said that people are fed up with erratic power supply, adding that there are power cuts for 5-6 hours every day. “We have not seen long power cuts like this. It seems that the government has forgotten common people even after getting a big mandate,” he said.

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The power supply in many areas was affected after a transformer caught fire on Tuesday at the PSPCL’s office in Phase 1. Three electric towers were damaged on
Wednesday evening, due to which the supply was affected in parts of Zirakpur and IT city in Mohali.

The officials said that power could not be restored for the next 24 hours even if they work on war footing, is this is a damaged that has affected the entire supply.