As people are reeling under sweltering heat and humid weather in north India, a survey conducted by a social media platform LocalCircles showed 86 per cent of the households in Noida and 94 per cent in Uttar Pradesh have experienced daily power outages in the ongoing month of June. The findings are based on responses from over 14,000 respondents located in 56 of the 75 districts of the state. As many as 100 people have died due to extreme heat in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in the last three days. While 54 people have died in Uttar Pradesh, 44 people have lost their lives due to the extremely hot weather in Bihar.
According to the survey, 94 per cent of households in Uttar Pradesh surveyed say they have been facing power outages daily in June. Also, 65 per cent of those surveyed in Uttar Pradesh are facing power outages three or more times on average every day, it claimed.
Overall in Uttar Pradesh, six per cent of the respondents stated that they have no knowledge as “we have 24X7 power backup”, the survey found.
In Gautam Buddh Nagar district (Noida), 86 per cent of households surveyed confirmed experiencing daily power outages this month, with 35 per cent of them saying the outages last more than two hours, according to the survey.
On average, 43 per cent said they experienced power outages at their homes once or twice a day, while 32 per cent said three-five times and four per cent said 10 to 20 times daily. There were 14 per cent of people who said “I don’t know because we have 24x7 power backup”, the survey showed.
In Noida, 4,141 responses were received from households and 62 per cent of the respondents were men while 38 per cent were women.
“It is unfortunate that despite the preparedness claims by power corporations in the state, over 90 per cent of households are facing daily power outages in the current month and 74 per cent are facing outages of over 2 hours in a day in one of the most populous states despite getting supplies through the national power grid,” LocalCircles said in a statement. LocalCircles stated that all respondents in the survey were verified citizens who had registered with the platform to participate.
The findings shed light on the persistent power supply issues faced by a significant portion of households in Noida and Uttar Pradesh, highlighting the need for improved infrastructure and measures to address these frequent power outages.