Power outages due to scorching heat lead to street protests in Uttar Pradesh
Lucknow: As the blistering heatwave continues to scorch India, the residents of Uttar Pradesh find themselves grappling with the devastating consequences of temperatures reaching up to a searing 45 degrees Celsius leading to surging demand for electricity resulting in distressing and frequent power outages across the region.
Frustrated by the prolonged power cuts, citizens took to the streets staging protests outside power stations. Residents of Para locality in Lucknow, the state capital of Uttar Pradesh, blocked the busy Hardoi Road disrupting traffic for over four hours. “All we want is a basic necessity of life. Power cuts mean no ACs, no fans, and even no water. The scorching heat has made our lives unbearable, and the lack of power is adding to our misery,” Ramesh Gupta, a resident of Para locality told this reporter on the telephone on Monday.
Gupta said that his wife was forced to sleep in the car, with AC on because his 9-month-old baby was crying incessantly because of the heat. There was no fan as our battery-supported inverter too died out because of the prolonged outage.
The area reported a power cut at 1 pm on Saturday and it was restored at around 3 am on Sunday affecting a population of over 1,50,000.
In the neighboring Chitwara locality, power outage was reported on Sunday morning and the electricity was restored after eight hours. In Dilkusha, where senior government officials live, the powerline was tripped at 9 am and the power was restored after 9 pm. The family of India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh lives in this locality. “Dilkusha is a VIP locality as Rajnath’s son Pankaj Singh, who himself is a lawmaker, lives here. If this is the state of affairs of this VIP area, who can very well understand the plight of people living in other localities,” Manish Sharma, a resident said.
Sanjay Jha, a government official said that there is no shortage of electricity in the state. “There is a sudden increase in demand for electricity because of the scorching summer. On Sunday, the demand increased because people stayed at home. This led to local faults like busting of cable line or transforms went kaput because of overloading,” he said. Power engineer A.K. Ahirwar said: “The excessive load and the extreme heat have taken a toll on the aging infrastructure, leading to failures in the power distribution network. We are working tirelessly to restore the electricity supply as quickly as possible.”
“We understand the hardships faced by the people due to the power outages. We request the public to remain patient as we work towards a solution,” he said. Mohammad Danish, a spokesman of IMD Lucknow, has issued a heat wave warning in parts of Uttar Pradesh for the next two days and after that, the region can experience a thundershower and rains.
The scorching heat has transformed the city into a desolate landscape, compelling people to seek refuge indoors. The once bustling streets now wear a deserted look, with only a few souls braving the oppressive temperatures, desperately searching for shade.
