Power crises in Ghaziabad
Residents of many areas of Ghaziabad adjoining Delhi and extending up to the Hindon river have been facing a severe power crisis - with cuts extending up 16 hours a day -- over the past few days on account of maintenance work going on at the 220-KV power sub-station in Sahibabad, which supplies power to these areas.
Increasing demand for power and lack of power infrastructure have only made matters worse.
"Overall power cuts extending up to 16 hours a day and six hours at a stretch have led to other problems like shortage of drinking water supply. Inverters, too, fail in these conditions making it all the more difficult in this humid weather," complained Poonam Gupta, a housewife living in Shalimar Garden.
"In the absence of power and water, it becomes difficult in the morning to even get the children ready for school," she added.
The unscheduled power cuts have also created peculiar situations for people in carrying out daily activities. "I was withdrawing money from an ATM and the transaction was almost over when the power supply stopped. After waiting for nearly an hour for the power supply to resume, I could still not withdraw the money I badly needed as power tripped within five minutes of resumption of supply," said Mano, also a housewife in Shalimar Garden.
In another case, a resident had to go all the way to Delhi to get one page of a document photocopied.
"I had to submit certain documents and needed to get an additional page photocopied. I had to drive nearly 4 km to Vivek Vihar because the matter was urgent and photocopiers were not working in any of the markets on the way due to the power cut," said Praveen Kumar of Brij Vihar.
According to a Power Department official in Ghaziabad, the unscheduled power cuts in these areas in the past three days were due to the maintenance work undertaken at the Sahibabad sub-station. "One of the main transformers is being shut down from 10 a.m. to 3-30 p.m. as a result of which there is no power supply for nearly six hours. On resumption of supply after such a long power cut, the demand shoots up as people begin doing their pending works. This leads to breakdowns," explained the official.
"The situation is likely to get better from the weekend," the official added, "but the maintenance work will again be taken up on July 24 and July 25."
Local residents, however, allege that the power crisis in these areas is a result of the Government failing to upgrade its transmission and distribution system in keeping with the growing needs. "At the time of giving allotments to people in all the planned colonies and apartments, the Government had sanctioned a mandatory load to each household. Thus it is aware of the total demand in these areas which have come up in the past few years. However, it has failed to upgrade its system as a result of which the residents are facing problems," said Aradhana B. of Shipra Sun City in Indirapuram.
Increasing demand for power and lack of power infrastructure have only made matters worse.
"Overall power cuts extending up to 16 hours a day and six hours at a stretch have led to other problems like shortage of drinking water supply. Inverters, too, fail in these conditions making it all the more difficult in this humid weather," complained Poonam Gupta, a housewife living in Shalimar Garden.
"In the absence of power and water, it becomes difficult in the morning to even get the children ready for school," she added.
The unscheduled power cuts have also created peculiar situations for people in carrying out daily activities. "I was withdrawing money from an ATM and the transaction was almost over when the power supply stopped. After waiting for nearly an hour for the power supply to resume, I could still not withdraw the money I badly needed as power tripped within five minutes of resumption of supply," said Mano, also a housewife in Shalimar Garden.
In another case, a resident had to go all the way to Delhi to get one page of a document photocopied.
"I had to submit certain documents and needed to get an additional page photocopied. I had to drive nearly 4 km to Vivek Vihar because the matter was urgent and photocopiers were not working in any of the markets on the way due to the power cut," said Praveen Kumar of Brij Vihar.
According to a Power Department official in Ghaziabad, the unscheduled power cuts in these areas in the past three days were due to the maintenance work undertaken at the Sahibabad sub-station. "One of the main transformers is being shut down from 10 a.m. to 3-30 p.m. as a result of which there is no power supply for nearly six hours. On resumption of supply after such a long power cut, the demand shoots up as people begin doing their pending works. This leads to breakdowns," explained the official.
"The situation is likely to get better from the weekend," the official added, "but the maintenance work will again be taken up on July 24 and July 25."
Local residents, however, allege that the power crisis in these areas is a result of the Government failing to upgrade its transmission and distribution system in keeping with the growing needs. "At the time of giving allotments to people in all the planned colonies and apartments, the Government had sanctioned a mandatory load to each household. Thus it is aware of the total demand in these areas which have come up in the past few years. However, it has failed to upgrade its system as a result of which the residents are facing problems," said Aradhana B. of Shipra Sun City in Indirapuram.