300 houses suffer 12-hour blackout after transformer bursts

About 300 houses in Block-C in Sushant Lok-1 had to spend 12 hours without electricity on Friday after a blast took place in a 400-KV transformer early morning. The blast took place around 6.30am and the damaged transformer was replaced by 6.30pm.

After the blast, the repair or the replacement of the damaged transformer became a matter of challenge for the residents who approached the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) and Ansal API, the appointed maintenance agency, as the Pro-Facility Management(Profac), but in vain.

Although the residents pay their electricity bills directly to the DHBVN, the discom does not maintain electricity infrastructure in the colony. The residents said that the electricity infrastructure in Sushant Lok is currently being maintained entirely by the Profac.

Anil Sharma, general secretary of the residents’ welfare association (RWA) of the colony, said, “The transformer at the corner of Vyapar Kendra in Block-C, Sushant Lok-1 had conked off early morning on Friday. After the Profac and the DHBVN refused to do the needful, the RWA replaced it at its own cost by 6.30 pm.”

“We are facing a difficult situation in terms of maintenance of electricity as we want the DHBVN to take over its maintenance and provide us permanent relief. The colony requires 10 new transformers as existing transformers are overloaded and getting damaged one after the other with the increase in consumption,” said Sharma.

Ravi Saini, general manager, Profac, said, “The RWA forcefully terminated our agreement in February this year although our agreement with the developer was expiring by the end of March. As such, it is now their responsibility to maintain electricity.”

A DHBVN official, when contacted, said that maintenance of electricity infrastructure in Sushant Lok-1 is not their responsibility. Sachin Yadav, executive engineer DHBVN, said, “The developer has to construct an electricity substation in Sushant Lok-1 as per the original layout plan of the colony, but it is still pending. This is the reason we are not maintaining electricity infrastructure in Sushant Lok-1.”