The People of the State Capital reeled under long spells of power cuts on Saturday. Things would be normal on Sunday, claim the power officials, adding that the supply is being affected off and on in some localities due technical problems developed at local levels in Dehradun.
Residents of several areas like Defense Colony, Salawala, Nehru Colony, Shivlok Colony, Vikaslok, Dilaram Chowk and Rajpur Road aside from places near Sai temple, Kewal Vihar, Ekta Vihar, Sumanpuri, Nalapani Chowk, Raipur and Sahastradhara faced power- cuts for hours.
UPCl spokesperson Madhusudan Issar said that the outages were due to local problems. At the State department level, there was no knowledge of any power- cut anywhere, he said.
The common people say they have been bearing the brunt of the power department going for this or that work. “The officials conjuring up different excuses for the erratic power supply are irritating. We have been suffering for the past many days,” said Suman, resident of Kewal Vihar. However, intriguingly enough, UPCl officials tend to deny that there has been any power- cut when their attention is drawn to the people’s suffering. A 50-year- old Ramesh Bisht said that he had decided to stay put at his home and spend time viewing television as it was cold outside. “However, the power outages left things awry,” he grumbled.
Ashish Semwal, resident of Dilaram Chowk, said that it has become a common phenomenon with the power department dangling excuses to have the supply cut. “Raipur, Salawala, Vikasnagar and other places has been grappling with frequent power- cuts for the past many days. On Saturday too, there was no power for hours since the morning. When contacted, the power officials at control room assure that power supply would be restored in one and half hour. This rarely happens,” he said.