HYDERABAD: Summer is at its peak now with the mercury inching closer to 44. The frequent power cuts, at some places in Uppal almost every half-an-hour, complaints are pouring in from people across the city. Nonetheless, surprisingly, the Central Power Distribution Company of Andhra Pradesh Ltd (APCPDCL) denies that there are power cuts, either scheduled or unscheduled.The APCPDCL had announced power cut schedule earlier this year citing power shortage. Now, though, the officials claim there’s no shortage of power and hence, no need for unscheduled power cuts. “There are no power cuts as the situation has improved a lot. During repairs and maintenance, power has to be shutdown and this can be a time taking process. Moreover, to avoid inconvenience to the public, we also consider alternate provisions of power supply especially during day time,” said AG Satish Kumar, chief general manager, metro zone, APCPDCL. He reasoned that at some places, extensive use of air-conditioners and other machines, which entail heavy loads, might force the company to provide emergency load relief to avoid major problems.Residents of different colonies in the city are unconvinced. Dr S N Sarada, a resident of Uppal, said, “due to the frequent power cuts, every half-an-hour in fact, it has become difficult to carry on household work. Even my medical practice suffers as inverters we use can only work for so long. I think it is due to the pillar construction for the ongoing metro rail work that we are facing this problem.” In Padmaraonagar, power cuts range from a minimum of two hours to four. Zubeda Lasania, a homemaker from Padmaraonagar, said, “the authorities should maintain some punctuality in power cuts, be it scheduled or unscheduled.” But it is not just families but also shopkeepers who are bearing the brunt of these unscheduled power cuts. “The power cuts are highly unpredictable. With the temperature rising day by day, we are unable to keep our goods fresh as power cuts are quite frequent,” said Beemaiah, a shopkeeper at Paigah Colony near Begumpet. “Almost everyday, there is no power between 2-3 pm in the afternoon. So, what if it’s unscheduled? It’s ridiculous to have power cuts in the afternoon. I am not able to study or sleep and have to sit through and sweat,” fumed K Adarsh, a student who lives near Kingkoti. In Malkajgiri, the situation is the same. In some places like Safilguda, the power cuts especially during nights are giving people nightmares. “We didn’t have power for six hours last night and add to that the power cuts at least twice during the day,” said Prakash, a resident of Anand Bagh.The chief general manager (metro zone) of APCPDCL, however, said citizens can call up respective divisional engineers, assistant divisional engineers or assistant engineers in case of power cuts.
Comments
0 comment