Major power failure leaves Mohali residents sweating and fuming

Though power supply in Chandigarh is still in a better condition than Mohali,a few parts of the city had witnessed unscheduled powercuts — both during the day and night. Several sectors in the southern part of the city plunged into darkness for about two hours owing to an unscheduled powercut imposed on the area on Monday night.

Later,electricity board officials mentioned the powercut was the result of a breakdown in Mohali’s sub-station.

While Sector 69 in Mohali and its other adjoining areas — which receives power supply from the 66-KV power sub-station in Sector 68 — remained powerless for almost eight hours,Phase II,3B1,3B2 and other pockets connected to the 220-KV power supply grid in Sector 73 suffered powercuts for around five hours.

While the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) officials attributed the breakdown to a technical snag in the sub-station and the grid,residents blamed the authorities for improper maintenance of the supply system and also for making no arrangement to cope with sudden breakdowns.

In the absence of power,morning water supply to Sector 69 and its vicinity could not begin before 7 am — three hours after its scheduled time. “Our area plunged into darkness around 10 pm and power supply was resumed only around 5.45 am,” said S S Dhanoa,president of the Resident Welfare Association in Sector 69.

Former Mohali Municipal councillor Kuljit Singh Bedi,who lives in Phase 3B2,said power supply to their area remained suspended from 8.45 pm to 1.30 am. “With temperature at its peak,it turned out to be a sleepless night as standby arrangements like inverters also gave up,” said Bedi,while slamming PSPCL officials for the inconvenience.

According to PSPCL Senior Executive Engineer H S Boparai,problems arose due to damage in the transmission line of 220-KV grid station. Similarly,PSPCL Sub-Divisional Engineer Paramjit Singh said a circuit breaker at 66-KV sub-station led to power shutdown in Sector 69 and its vicinity. They managed to fix the problem after diverting the supply from Sector 80 and another sub-station in Sector 68.

Kundi connections in Chandigarh’s slum colonies,especially in the southern sectors,also contribute towards overloading of powerlines,resulting in frequent breakdowns. The residents of the colonies draw power through kundi connections,which go unchecked.

At places,residents draw more than the declared power load,which too adds pressure on the feeder lines,resulting in frequent breakdowns in area transformers. The overloading leads to tripping,resulting in power shutdown. With the day temperature hovering around 40 degrees Celsius,the use of air-conditioners has also increased,which also adds on to the pressure.

An official of the UT Administration said that though there is no shortage of power in the city,power breakdowns are occurring due to breakdown at substations and overloading. “We have made arrangements for additional power supply to cope up with the increasing demands for electricity. Till today,we have not felt that there is a need to have rotational powercuts in the city.”