Power cuts in, city sweats it out
If the high temperature and hot wind made Delhiites sweat it out on the roads, they were not spared inside their homes too. Frequent power cuts in the city compounded the troubles of city dwellers on Saturday who reeled under the scorching heat with no fans or air conditioners. The Central and East Delhi areas faced the maximum brunt as rest parts of the city too faced power outages that varied from 30 minutes to two hours. This included midnight power cuts that added to the woes of people. Sources said Delhi has been facing power shortage to the tune of 1,000 MW after electricity supply was disrupted by a dust storm last week. They said it would require at least a week to restore the supply completely.
What is more worrisome, the current peak power demand in the Capital has been 400 MW lesser that the previous year. Yet, there have been long duration of power cuts. According to Power Department officials, the maximum power demand in 2013 was 5,653 MW while the peak demand this summer has been only 5,250 MW that was recorded on Thursday. On Saturday, the peak power demand in the city settled at 5,152 MW. Old Delhi areas like Turkman Gate, Bara Hindu Rao, Jama Masjid, Nai Sadak, Chawri Bazar, Chandni Chowk and Daryaganj reeled under power cuts that aggravated since Friday night. As power crisis intensified, water supply too was affected in the city.
Several areas in South, East and West Delhi, where power is supplied by discom BSES, faced power cuts for nearly two to three hours. This included midnight power cuts in several South and West Delhi areas. The areas that were affected in South Delhi included parts of Chittaranjan Park, Alakananda, Khanpur, Greater Kailash-I, Nehru Place, Jangpura Extension, Nizamuddin, RK Puram, Munirka, Sarvapriya, Vihar, Saket and parts of Vasant Kunj. Some of these areas faced power cuts for more than two hours on Friday late night. The worst-hit areas included Greater Kailash, Chittaranjan Park and the commercial hub at Nehru Place where power supply was affected during working hours.
In Trans-Yamuna areas, Mayur Vihar-I, Mayur Vihar-II, Preet Vihar, laxmi Nagar, Nirman Vihar and other areas too faced power cuts. “Power supply has become so erratic in the city. There is no prior information on impending outages and even repeated phone calls to the control room helpline go unattended,” said Ritu Singh, a resident of Mayur Vihar-II.