Rain brings along power cuts

Rain over the past two days brought along power cuts, unmasking the tall claims of the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) of continuous power supply.

Even though power load remains low during winter, nearly half the city suffered power outage on Saturday night, which continued on Sunday.

Transformers in many areas like Karnail Singh Nagar, Punjab Mata Nagar and others went out of order due to heavy rain and lightning, further damaging electronic gadgets in many houses.

Hardwarilal Gautam, a resident of Punjab Mata Nagar, said, “The power went out soon after a spark in the transformer. I later noticed that the fan and CFL in the room had got burnt.”

JS Grewal of Grewal Sweets in the area, said adaptors in his house went out of order due to sudden spark in the transformer.

As electricity was not restored in the area till afternoon, residents were still waiting to know the exact situation of electrical equipment in their houses.

Residents reeled under power outage in many other areas like Chandigarh Road, Singhpura Mohalla, Bachitra Nagar on Gill Road, Dugri area and others.

No response from complaint centre

Narinder Singh Masson, president of Welfare Society of Phase II, Karnail Singh Nagar, said, “The nodal complaint centre is nothing more than a headache for residents, as no complaint is entertained properly. There was sparking in the transformer at night, after which I complained at the nodal centre, but despite many calls no proper response was given.”

The area remained in dark from Saturday night till the filing of this report on Sunday evening.

Ravinder Singh, resident of Sector 32, Chandigarh Road, had the same complaint. He said, “The nodal centre is for the convenience of public, but it is never so. I filed a complaint of electricity cut on Saturday evening, but there was no response till Sunday afternoon.”

Rashpal Singh, chief engineer, Central Zone, PSPCL, Ludhiana, didn’t respond to calls or messages despite several attempts.