Over 6 lakh residents of western Patna and adjoining areas were affected on Wednesday morning as the power supply went off for several hours, throwing lives out of gear and hampering the routine of students and office workers.

Power went out around 7.30am - as people were getting up or rushing through their daily chores - affecting Danapur, Khagaul, Phulwarisharif, Saguna Mor, Rupaspur, Jagdeo Path, Ashiana Mor, Rajiv Nagar, Raja Bazaar, AG Colony, Punaichak, Digha, Kurji, Sadaquat Ashram, Pataliputra Colony, Boring Road, Rajapur and several other areas.

At first, people took it as a regular load shedding but the supply did not resume even after an hour.

Thanks to the defunct public water supply system, a majority of people living in the areas of western Patna are forced to rely on borings or borewells that need electric motors to pump out water. So the power cuts immediately cut off water supply as well.

"I was just waiting for the power to come back when the stored water ran out. The entire work of my household, right from bathing and cleaning to cooking, suffered. I could not even use the toaster, mixer-grinder or rice cooker. My husband went to work and my son went to school without taking a bath or having a proper meal," said Kumari Ranjana, a homemaker in the Anand Puri area.

Raju Ranjan Prasad, a teacher who lives in the Sri Nagar locality, said: "There were long power cuts throughout the morning and people living in my area suffered due to the heat and water scarcity. There is no government piped water supply system in these areas and people depend on borewells for water."

Patna Electric Supply Undertaking (Pesu) washed its hands of the problem, with general manager Dilip Kumar Singh saying Pesu had nothing to do with it and that the supply was stopped due to the closure of Khagaul and Digha electricity grid sub-stations by the Bihar State Power Transmission Company Limited (BSPTCL).

Dilip added that at times power supply is stopped for project-related works like replacing electricity supply lines, installing transformers and conductors of higher capacity, repair and maintenance work but prior information about the timings of the power cuts is relayed to the people through newspapers.

Though the timing for the disruption on Wednesday was scheduled between 8am and 10am, it started earlier than that and lasted almost till noon at several places.

"The Khagaul grid sub-station was shut in the morning down for maintenance work, including replacement of some equipment, which had developed faults," BSPTCL managing director R. Lakshmanan told The Telegraph. "We had made an alternative arrangement of power supply from the Digha grid sub-station via the Digha-Khagaul supply line, but it tripped due to an earthing fault and overload of current."