Pilgrims perform pinddaan rituals in Bodhgaya and (right) Gaya senior superintendent of police Nishant Tiwari inspects arrangements for the Pitripaksh Mela on Thursday. Pictures by Suman

Power cuts during the Pitri-paksh Mela in Gaya have stuck out like a sore thumb on the high-mark performance report card of the district administration.

The large number of pilgrims, who have arrived to perform pinddaan rituals, are by and large satisfied with the arrangements — from cleanliness to condition of roads to security — of the district administration for the mela but they want better power supply.

A sizeable number of pilgrims arrived here on September 7 or 8 to perform pinddaan on all days till September 24. They have put up not only at dharamshalas around the Vishnupad temple but also in other parts of Gaya town. Power went off for more than an hour-and-a-half in New Godown and other parts of the town on Wednesday night. During the Pitripaksh every year, round-the-clock power supply used to be available.

Bajrang Lal Kedia has arrived from Hyderabad to perform the 17-day pinddaan with four other members of his family. The family has hired air-conditioned rooms in Rajasthan Bhavan. “The air-conditioner trips often because of voltage fluctuations. Last (Wednesday) night, there was power cut for around an hour after rain and strong wind lashed the city. We asked the guesthouse in-charge to switch on the generator so that we could use the fan at least. The overhead power cables should be shifted underground to prevent snapping in strong wind,” Bajrang said. He, however, was satisfied with the town cleanliness and security arrangements.

Bajrang Lal Agarwal from Bhilai in Chhattisgarh is in town with 20 family members and has put up at a Gayapal panda’s dharamshala.

Bajrang said he had come to Gaya with his father around 37 years ago. “Though I cannot remember the arrangements made by the administration then, this year has been good. Power cuts, though for five to 10 minutes, remain the only problem. Voltage fluctuations should also be controlled,” said Bajrang.

Pandit Vishwanath Lalta from Haryana’s Mahendragarh district, however, said: “We have come here on a spiritual trip. Therefore, we should abstain from criticism. I had visited Gaya in 1984 and the arrangements this year are far better in comparison to the past.”

India Power Corporation (Bodhgaya) Limited (IPCL) additional general manager Rakesh Ranjan said: “Power cuts and voltage fluctuations occur because of overdrawing of electricity. Take for example the case of Karsilli near the Vishnupad temple. The lane has a maximum of 25 genuine consumers, who can draw at the most 15-18 amperes of electricity. But the actual consumption of the locality crosses 50 amperes because of large-scale hooking. IPCL suffers a loss of Rs 5 crore over the 17-day fair period because of this.”

He added: “Recently, we tried replacing old worn-out wires with insulated wires to prevent hooking but the residents put up stiff opposition.”

IPCL unit I area in-charge Prafulla Katiyar claimed that the company was supplying more than 23 hours power to the fair area. “Our company has set up a control room in the mela area to monitor power supply. We are getting 65 to 70MW for Gaya. However, there was a power cut for 10 to 15 minutes last (Wednesday) night because of rain and strong winds. Supply was suspended in New Godown area for maintenance work,” he said.