Power outages spark protests
With mercury continuing to soar and frequent powercuts leading to no respite from the sweltering heat, the patience of Delhiites seems to be giving way. As the peak power demand continued to remain above 4,500MW mark, the BSES issued an appeal on Tuesday asking people to use electricity judiciously. The New Delhi Municipal Council, which provides power supply to the New Delhi area, said that drawing power more than the sanctioned load was leading to frequent trippings.
Unable to bear the frequent and long powercuts any longer, angry residents of Sarojini Nagar, mostly government employees, laid a virtual siege to the local electricity office of the NDMC around Monday midnight. Some even managed to get inside the office complex. Though the situation did not take a turn for the worse, the residents alleged that power supply was erratic.
However, NDMC spokesperson Anand Tiwari said that the problem of frequent tripping could not be wished away as people were drawing much more than the sanctioned load. “We have been writing to the Central Public Works Department to ensure that people do not install gadgets that consume power more than the 0.5 KV sanctioned load. But the CPWD has failed to take any action in this regard. If the situation continues, it would be difficult to keep the power supply smooth,” said Mr Tiwari.
Meanwhile, the BSES maintained that the peak power demand in the capital had risen by about 13.64 per cent since May 10. On May 10, the peak power demand was 4,031 MW, which reached a high of 4,581 MW on Monday. On Tuesday, the peak demand was only slightly less at 4,517 MW. A BSES spokesperson said that the per capita consumption of power in the city was 1,265 unit per annum, which was more than double than the national average.
Though the discoms claim that the peak power demand is being met, several areas like Malviya Nagar, Paharganj, Rajender Nagar, Sangam Vihar and south Delhi are facing powercuts.
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