Residents irked by erratic power supply

The residents of Sahnewal have been at the receiving end of frequent outages and irregular power supply. Consumers say that despite complaints, the PSTCL officials seem to be in no hurry to resolve the issue. The unscheduled cuts are in some cases prolonged even for the whole day.

Fed up by the irresponsive attitude of the employees, residents have now begun to vent their anger. They complaint that these unscheduled cuts are taking a toll on their lives. The supply is seldom restored in time or snapped immediately after restoration, they claim.

Vivek Sehgal, an industrialist, complained, “Thursday night as the weather turned hostile, the power was cut. It was restored after not less than 8 hours. The department had to be informed time and again. The response of the employees, too, was not friendly. In a number of instances, it has been observed that the employees undertake the work of rectification only when they receive multiple complaints, otherwise none cares.”

“The whole area is plunged into darkness as the department fails to restore supply even after hours. Shopkeepers have to bear losses due to this. Machine-driven equipment stops working, thus forcing workers to just wait and watch,” said Sanjeev of Vishal Paints.

“Students cannot study without electricity. The children appearing for university exams or for other entrance tests, are at their wits end without power. Moreover, online study is seriously affected by these cuts,” said Navneet, a student, who is preparing for his final exams.

“We can cooperate with the department but there has to be a limit. If we have to go without power for hours altogether, and that too because of the callous attitude of employees we simply cannot sit quite. The department should either take up the matter seriously or find some alternative to ensure regular supply,” expressed Pargat Singh of Sky Auto International.

A PSPCL official, on the condition of anonymity, said the department was facing a severe crunch of supporting staff, so the restoration work sometimes took time. “The scant staff has to be divided as per the complaints which results in delayed restoration. In the absence of regular appointments, the contractual staff are in no position to handle the responsibility with that gusto. But we are still trying to cope. We do not want our consumers to suffer at any cost,” he asserted.

“Moreover, the Sahnewal grid is under the PSTCL and almost the entire staff has been hired by Tesco, which lacks the necessary technical skills required to handle power failures as a result of this resolution of power outages and disruptions take time. We are helpless most of the times because of the lack of human resource, which is an urgent need of our department,” the official added.

Ludhiana