Delhi's commercial hub, Connaught Place (CP) faced a major six-hour power cut on Tuesday. While power outages in this part of lutyens Bungalow Zone (lBZ) is not a new phenomena, yet Tuesday's power cut left the trading community miffed. The New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC), however, claimed that there was no power disruption from its end.
The prolonged power cut in the area compelled the owners to shut their shops earlier than usual. "There was no electricity from seven in the morning and it never came till late in the afternoon. So I had to close my shop early at 3:30 pm as my inverter also stopped working," said Omer Khar, a travel agent. Another shopkeeper in the outer circle informed that the power cut took place between 9:30 in the morning to around 5 in the evening. The NDMC claims that they had already mended the cables that had snapped.
For the traders in this commercial hub, power supply is exceptionally erratic and a back-up costs them a fortune. "I have been running this shop in CP for 18 years now. But the condition of power here fails to improve. At times we run without electricity for hours together. On an average I have to shell out a minimum of Rs 800 per month on my generator. It is painful to pay for two separate sources of power," said Manzoor Ahmad, a shop owner at N Block.
A few traders in the area rued that the complaint number of the NDMC always goes unanswered or even if a complaint is registered, no personnel comes for fixing the lines. The maximum power demand met in the city on Tuesday was 5,112 MW.