The dip in temperature on Monday came only as a slight relief to Delhiites as a majority of them had to bear the brunt of frequent power cuts across the city.
Of all the areas, West Delhi was the worst-hit, where power was out for as long as six hours. Despite tall claims by power distribution companies of being prepared for summer, the situation in areas like Uttam Nagar, Paschim Vihar, Dwarka, Janakpuri, Matiala, Mundka, Rajouri Garden, Rohini and Punjabi Bagh are still deplorable.
Although the maximum temperature settled at 42.6 degrees, the city's peak power demand on Monday was recorded at 5,315 MW, while Sunday's was 4,796 MW when maximum temperature recorded was 43.6 degree Celsius. "The power is out exactly from 8 pm to 2 am. Even though it occurs in batches, we live without power for almost four hours," said Vishal, a resident of Uttam Nagar East.
The residents of this part of Delhi had to face power cuts for almost 10 hours a day, last week, when a 220 KV conductor in the Pappankalan line had snapped. However, even though the line was fixed, the problem persists. "Sometimes there is no electricity for over two hours at a stretch during the day, when heat is at its maximum. Our inverter also goes off after a point, and we have to stay without fans," said Kirti Prakash, a resident of Paschim Vihar.
However, amidst complaints coming from all spheres, the power utilities are engaged in pushing the blame on one another. While the Delhi Transco limited (DTl) claims that it is due to the mismanagement of the BSES Rajdhani Power limited (BRPl), which has resulted in shortage of power in West Delhi, BRPl says that the fault lies in the line of DTl. "The helpline numbers of BSES are of no use as we get no response from it," said a resident of Janakpuri.
Moreover, various parts of South and East Delhi like Vasant kunj, Safdarjung, Vasant Vihar, South Extension, Mayur Vihar Phase I, II, and III, Anand Vihar, Karkardooma and Ashok Nagar are also facing the brunt of power cuts. While some claim that power cuts start the moment they sleep at night, others said that the duration of the outages are too long for them to bear.