Meanwhile, senior officials said the Central government’s monitoring committee has already issued warnings to Punjab and Haryana, asking them not to overdraw power. Punjab has overdrawn 300 MW and Haryana nearly 600 MW so far, more than their sanctioned quota.

“The UT Chief Engineer has been asked to keep a close watch and make arrangements from the national grid too, for which talks are on,” another senior official of the UT Administration said.

Illegal connections add to the load
Senior officials said in such times of crisis, unauthorised connections (famous as kundi connections) add to the load. “Kundi connections, mainly in the slums on Chandigarh and Mohali border, are playing a vital role in increasing the load. People in these slums steal electricity, resulting in overloading and malfunctioning of transformers,” a senior official of the Administration said. “This problem persists mainly in Colony No. 5, which affects the power supply in the city. We have issued strict directions to officials to keep a watch on such unauthorised electricity connections and book violators under criminal law.”

Summer holidays in govt schools extended till July 7
Taking note of the intense heat, the UT education department has extended the summer vacation in all government schools till July 7. In a meeting chaired by Home Secretary Ram Niwas and attended by private school principals of Chandigarh, it was decided on Sunday that in case the weather conditions remained the same, private schools too would follow suit.