Residents sweat it out as Zirakpur goes powerless

Sanjay Bumbroo

Mohali, June 16

Gusty winds, accompanied by rain, damaged three 66 kV power transmission line towers, disrupting power supply in the Pabhat area and other parts of Zirakpur for over 24 hours, forcing people to sweat it out in the sweltering heat.

Three 66 kV power towers collapsed in fields near a village on Airport Road, causing disruption of power supply to the Zirakpur area around 7 pm yesterday, shutting down all feeders at Daulat Singh Wala in Pabhat village and at the Ramgarh Bhuda sub-station. Several areas, including Pabhat, Balaji Enclave, VIP Road, Lohgarh, Guru Nanak Nagar, Abhepur, Chhat village and Singhpura in Zirakpur remained powerless for over 24 hours, and it will take at least 24 hours more to restore the supply as the work is being done on a war footing and until then, temporary arrangements have been made to power substations after which the supply will be restored, claimed a PSPCL official. Eyebrows are being raised over the quality of material used as three 66 kV towers collapsed after a few minutes of dust storm and rain. Ashwani Kumar, Superintending Engineer (SE), said the three towers, which were holding high-tension power lines feeding three substations — Pabhat, Rampur Budda and Chadiala — collapsed on Airport Road. The PSPCL reportedly suffered a loss of Rs 25 lakh to Rs 30 lakh as far as infrastructure was concerned, but the loss of transmission was expected to be much more. An inquiry had been marked into the collapse of the towers, he said.

Due to the disruption in power supply, the water supply was also affected in the Zirakpur area. There was no water supply for the whole day today. An official said water was not expected to be supplied till Friday afternoon when the power was likely to be restored. People had to fetch drinking water through tankers being operated by private companies or they had to buy mineral water bottles.

Even though the rain brought some respite for residents as the temperature dipped by a few degrees last night, the sunny weather today made things difficult for them. Inverters also got exhausted and could not be charged in the absence of power.

Some residents hired generators, especially those who had seriously ill elders at home. Some even shifted their elderly persons to hotels, while some shifted their families to their relatives’ places in Panchkula, Mohali and Chandigarh.

Dhiraj Kaushal, a resident of Zirakpur, said they had to hire a generator as his brother Shammi, who had received head injuries in June last year, could not bear the heat. He said they had to shell out over Rs 6,000 for hiring the generator and to purchase diesel for running it.

Kuldeep Singh, a resident of Baltana, said he had to shift his elderly ill parents to a hotel last night. He said he would be paying around Rs 12,000 for the hotel room for two days.

Water supply affected too

Due to the disruption in power supply, the water supply was also affected in the Zirakpur area. There was no water supply for the entire day on Thursday. An official said water was not expected to be supplied till Friday afternoon when the power was likely to be restored. People had to fetch drinking water through tankers being operated by private companies or they had to buy mineral water bottles.