For the last week, residents of Jangpura have been subjected to power cuts lasting for three to four hours.

The cuts are occurring despite Indraprastha power plant generating the promised amount of power. While the discom blames the malfunctioning Delhi Transco transformers, sources in the power department pass the buck back to the discom, saying there are alternate sources to transmit power.

The 220 KV transmission line that connects the Maharani Bagh sub station to the Lodhi Road sub station — and thereby supplies power to all major South Delhi colonies — was, in fact, shut down on September 29 and will continue to remain shut till October 12. This was necessary because the line was interfering with the construction work on the elevated corridor over Barapullah Nullah — an important project for the Commonwealth Games.

But outages caused due to the shutdown were expected to be minimal. “We have enough alternate sources to transmit power and the BSES has been advised to back feed power to these areas,” said a Transco official.

In a meeting held on September 29 between the Power Secretary, the BSES representatives and representatives of Indraprastha Power Generation Co Ltd, the BSES was strictly directed to ensure that outages are restricted to one hour and are carried out in rotation.

“The BSES told the power secretary that they may need to effect 2-hour cuts and the secretary said that will not do, the outages should be no more than of one-hour duration,” said a senior official in the power department. The BSES said they will be able to limit outages only if the Indraprastha power plant generates as per its capacity. “The power secretary personally assured them that it will,” he said, “and that power is being generated, but even so, there are reports from many South Delhi colonies of power cuts ranging from 2-4 hours.”

... contd.