Power cuts get worse Ludhiana
Kuldip Bhatia
Ludhiana, June 12
Immediately after the civic elections in the city concluded on Sunday, the power situation, which was already precarious ever since two 100 MVA transformers were damaged in a massive fire at the 220 KV Lalton substation, took a turn for the worse.
On Monday, power supply remained intermittent in most parts of the city,
with load shedding at regular intervals all through the day, and even during the night. The power scenario became grimmer today with load shedding at most domestic feeders continuing while a six-hour shutdown at 220 KV Humbran substation further added to the woes of residents who were left without power in over a dozen localities.
Even though senior officials of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) claimed that a new 100 MVA transformer installed at the Lalton Kalan substation had become operational, and some load had already been shifted to it, there was no visible improvement in the power supply as far as domestic feeders were concerned.
Sources in the power utility attributed the frequent load shedding and line failure in residential areas to lack of adequate infrastructure and overloading on most of the transformers in the urban areas.
"With the shifting of load due to snags at the Lalton substation and Ferozepur Road substation, the distribution and transmission equipment had taken a beating, which has now necessitated major maintenance shutdowns at Humbran Road, Model Town, Dugri and Ferozepur Road substations on June 12 and 13," sources said.
Residents complained that the PSPCL kept them in the dark about scheduled shutdowns and in case of line failure or other snags, the staff at the centralised customer care centre turns unresponsive.
"The complaints booked at customer care centres about power failure due to blown fuses or other defects remain unattended for hours. Complaints booked during night remain unattended till late in the morning," said Kartar Singh, a resident of Kundanpuri locality.
The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Ludhiana Stories
That the poor quality of power supply in the city and frequent failures are the result of inadequate infrastructure and outdated equipment is borne out from the assertion of PSPCL officials at Patiala (headquarters of the power utility) who claim that as of now, there is no scheduled cut in power whereas the fact remains that people have to go without power for hours.
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