'Icon city' Gurugram needs more power supply

Gurugram: In his recent address on August 15, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar called Gurugram an icon city and addressed slew of measures to make it the smartest city in the country. One of the big announcements made by the CM was that Gurugram had become the district where 24 hours of power supply is available.

However, just days after the announcement, long power outages continue to plague the residents in the city.

Ironically, most of the places that are bearing the challenge shortage of power supply are the most posh area of the city like all the five phases of DLF, Sushant- Lok, South City and Palam Vihar. Not only do the residents face difficulties in terms of erratic power supply but problems of low voltage supply are irking many citizens.

Even after charging the residents of Gurugram higher rate of Rs 8 per unit for power supply, the state owned power supply firm Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) continue to make heavy losses.

In the financial year of 2016-17, the state electricity board incurred a loss of Rs 500 crore in Gurugram district.

Situation has not improved even now and DHBVN continue to incur a loss of Rs 41 crore per month.

Further, the losses for DHBVN continue to mount each year. While in financial year 2015-16, the state owned unit incurred a loss of Rs 450 crore, in the successive year the losses have increased to the tune of Rs 50 crore. Line losses have been attributed as one of the major reasons for the mounting losses.

While the officials at Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam claim that there has been a strict action taken on the power theft, they highlighted that tackling it on a larger scale is still a major challenge.

"The government may have the right intentions for the progress of the city but it also must be implemented. Gurugram may have been hailed as an icon city but the reality is every household need a generator or an inverter because of the poor power infrastructure," said Rajni Yadav, a city resident.