SNAG SPARKS SUMMER MISERY IN WESTERN PARTS OF THE CITY
Western Patna residents, particularly from Ram Nagari Colony, Magistrate Colony, Ashiana Nagar and neighbouring areas, are going through a harrowing time for the last few days because of frequent power cuts.
The humidity is adding to their woes.
Though senior officials in the power distribution corporation have said power cuts should not be of more than half-an-hour, even in cases of breakdown or overloading in feeders, intermittent power cuts in these areas — at times for more than 12 hours a day — since Monday are troubling the residents.
There was no power in these areas for almost all of Monday and Wednesday nights. Residents complained about not being able to sleep, children falling ill and non-operation of water pumps.
What is worse is that the operators at fuse call centres — with helplines to lodge electricity related complaints — allegedly did not respond promptly and even argued with residents. They did not register complaints, which is compulsory as per the guidelines of the power distribution board.
“This is serious misconduct on the part of the operator concerned and action will be initiated against him,” said Dilip Kumar Singh, general manager at Patna Electric Supply Undertaking (Pesu). “The operators are trained to talk politely with consumers, especially at night, when power cuts bother more. Besides, issuing a complaint number to the consumer is a must and the operator is required to call back the consumer once the problem is resolved.”
The power went out in Ram Nagari, Magistrate Colony and neighbouring areas around 2am on Monday night and came back around 10am.
“When I called up the Excise Colony fuse call centre at around 3am, I was told that technicians were not available and power would be restored only in the morning,” said Ram Nagari Colony resident K.N. Tripathi, a retired bank official. “I called again at 7am to ask if when power would be restored but got the same answer again. The operator did not asked for my name or give me any complaint number.”
The story was similar on Wednesday evening. Operators at Excise Colony fuse call centre (7763814441) initially said new transformers were being installed at Magistrate Colony Mor.
Later, residents were told that power was to be supplied from a nearby transformer as the new transformer needed to be charged.
“There was no electricity from 6pm to 10pm,” said Ram Nagari resident Sneha Kumari. “Power supply resumed around 10pm but lights went out again at around 11:45pm, only to come back at 1:10am. The power snapped at around 1:45am again and came back only around 3:15am. My child, who was born only a month ago, could not sleep for the past few days.”
When The Telegraph called the Bihar State Power Distribution Company toll-free number (18002456198) at 2:38am, the operator said the 33KV Khagaul grid sub-station was not supplying electricity because of a snag.
The Excise Colony fuse call centre was not available on phone.
The operator called back at 3am and said power would be restored in half-an-hour. Electricity came back at around 3:20am.
Pesu general manager Singh said colonies in western Patna including Ashiana Nagar and others were connected with two power sub-stations at Khagaul and Digha. “The underground cables at Khagaul sub-station were disturbed because of some civil work in the area,” he said. “Power supply should have been restored in the connecting areas through the alternate sub-station at Digha. The blackout should not have exceeded half-an-hour, whatever be the reason.”
Energy department principal secretary and chairman-cum-managing-director of Bihar State Power Holding Company Pratyaya Amrit held a review meeting on Thursday morning to look into the matter. Power cuts kept recurring till 12noon but supply resumed to normal thereafter.
