Samrala, July 31
Mosquitoes in the countryside have become a nightmare as rural Punjab remains without power most of the time in day and at night. Swarms of mosquitoes invade the countryside owing to paddy crop.
“It appears we are living in a dark age”, says Jagdish Lal of Dhilwan village, near Samrala. Mosquitoes bite children at night making them cry, he adds. Most undependable thing in countryside is power supply these days.
Prolonged power cuts have made life topsy-turvy. Almost every activity has been affected by of the prevailing power crisis. “People are falling sick. Malaria cases have been reported from villages”, says Major Singh of Bardhala village, near here.
“I am unable to do any business at my photo shop in the absence of power”, says Narinder Singh, photographer at Badali Ala Singh. “I am not in a position to buy a generator”, he adds. “When we provided land for grid free of cost, we were assured of round the clock supply in the village but the PSEB and the government has cheated us in this regard as our village is subjected to power cuts for 12 to 16 hours in 24 hours”, says Sadhu Singh.
Be he a carpenter, tailor, photographer, photostat machine owner, electrician repairing electric gadgets or any other shopkeeper, every one has been suffering because of power cuts. “We are unable to earn even rent of the shop in one month”, said Gopal at Chuni Kalan.
“I am supposed to do maximum business before noon
between 9 am. to 12 noon. But power cut starts at 9 am. and then power is restored at 12.30 p.m. for two hours then again power cut resumes”, says Ranjit Singh, owner of photostat machine at Chunni Kalan. What irritates people most is power cut in evening starting from 6 pm to 9 p.m. “Badal government, that failed to provide us power, even does not allow us to have our meals in the light of a bulb”, says Jasdev Singh.
There is strong resentment against Badal government in the countryside due to power crisis. Neither people in the urban area nor in rural areas are happy as life has become miserable owing to scheduled and unscheduled power cuts.
Gurvinder Singh, a farmer of Otalan village, near Khanna, has transplanted paddy in 32 acres. “ This time it has really become a tough job for me to nurse the crop. As voltage remains low, my motors are unable to draw water from tube wells. I have to engage a tractor to operate tube wells”, he adds. And a tractor consumes diesel of Rs 100 in an hour. “Parminder Singh, another farmer near Gurvinder Singh’s field says his two motors were burnt in one month owing to low voltage. “ I have spent Rs 5,000 to get those repaired. But will I save from my five acres of paddy? he asked. He also uses tractor to operate tube well as there was no supply of power in 48 hours owing to fault in transformer.
At Jatana Uchha village Baljinder Singh, his wife and mother spend most of the time under a tree on the road side in the absence of power. “ We remain sitting under tree but mosquito bites have made arms swell”, adds Baljinder Singh’s wife showing her arms having tell-tale signs of mosquito bites.
