'Powerless' Delhi comes to boil
23 May 2012 9:18 AM GMT
With the onset of the oppressive summer heat, the residents of Delhi are apprehensive about authorities' preparedness this year considering water and power crisis has become a regular phenomenon. The appalling situation that prevailed last summer was something that Delhiites are not going to forget in a jiffy.
On Tuesday, power demand in the city touched 4,717 MW, the highest this summer, even as various areas continued to reel under load shedding due to growing gap between demand and supply. According to sources, the previous highest power demand was recorded on 17 May when it had touched 4,633 MW. The maximum demand in the city had reached an all-time high of 5,028 MW last summer and it is projected to reach 5,500 MW this year.
Protests in various parts of Delhi, particularly in areas such as Sangam Vihar, Rohini, Dwarka and Khanjawala, were witnessed since Sunday. Electricity problems were reported mainly in west Delhi, including Uttam Nagar, Janakpuri, Hari Nagar and Tilak Nagar.
An angry woman protesting at Janakpuri said, 'Last year, we faced up to six hours of power cut everyday. This year, the problem has already started and we want the authorities to be prepared for the peak summer time.'
With rise in demand, areas across east, west, north and south Delhi continued to face outages for up to two hours due to shortage of power as well as local faults in the distribution network.
'There was no power in our area for two hours. Students are the worst sufferers as they have to study in dark and also have to face the scorching heat without air-conditioners,' said a resident of Palam in West Delhi.
However, Power department officials claimed there was no shortage in power, and that arrangements have been made to ensure uninterrupted supply of power during peak summer months.
Officials blamed that the neighbouring states who were overdrawing from the northern grid, force Delhi to restrict drawing its full quota.
Talking to Millennium Post, Rishi Raj, Public Relations Officer, Transco, said, 'We have not received any report of load-shedding incidents anywhere. We had some technical faults, but it was repaired and sometimes it is beyond our control to maintain the load-shedding. The outages take place due to local faults and overdrawal of power from the northern grid by the neighbouring states.'
Same is the condition of potable drinking water availability all over the city. At present the requirement of water in Delhi is about 1,100 MGD.
However, only 400 MGD are being supplied to people. And according to residents of Maidan Garhi and Poothkalan ward, they face scarcity of water and due to the negligence of DJB, the water which have been supplied is being mixed with sewage at many places due to which people were becoming victims of various diseases. Apparently, at many places the pipelines of DJB have rusted resulting in water leaks.
Earlier, thousands of people of Poothkalan ward blocked the traffic on Khanjawala road lead by BJP Councillor Devender Solanki, but the problem remains unsolved. 'We haven't been supplied water in our colony for many days, now. We are compelled to buy cans of water for Rs 30 each,' said a resident from Maidan Garhi.
Earlier, Millennium Post had reported that DJB workers were selling water in black and that two buckets of water cost residents Rs 50. Outer Delhi, rural Delhi, unauthorised colonies, slums and rehabilitation colonies were the worst affected areas. In many areas, those who have paid bills to the tune of Rs 1,600 to Rs 3,000 were also denied regular water supply.
Meanwhile, BJP Delhi Pradesh, in view of severe scarcity of water and power in the Capital, has decided to stage a demonstration in front of the offices of DJB, including its headquarters on 28 May.
DISCOMS TOLD OFF BY DELHI GOVERNMENT
If things go as Delhi government ordered, Delhi might not suffer frequent outages as now. The government on Tuesday has directed power distribution companies to repair their faulty transformers expeditiously so that high load on the transmission network does not lead to disruption in power supply.
Further, the discoms have also been told to attend to the local faults in their distribution network immediately, which have been identified as a major reason for power cuts in several areas in the city.
The directive from the government came after it was found out that outages have been taking place across the city due to faulty transformer and local faults in the distribution network. 'The local faults take place when the network fails to bear high load due to high demand. The outages also take place when transformers collapse,' said an official.
He said the government received reports of long power cuts in several areas along the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border in north east Delhi due to local faults. Discom BSES Yamuna Power Ltd supplies power in these areas.
'The power department has also asked the discoms to gear up their machinery in addressing the complaints of the consumers related to local faults,' said the official adding that it has been made clear to the companies that even load shedding for shorter duration should not take place.
The power department feels that there was adequate supply of power in the city and outages have been taking place due to local faults and problem in the transmission network.
On Tuesday, power demand in the city touched 4,717 MW, the highest this summer, even as various areas continued to reel under load shedding due to growing gap between demand and supply. According to sources, the previous highest power demand was recorded on 17 May when it had touched 4,633 MW. The maximum demand in the city had reached an all-time high of 5,028 MW last summer and it is projected to reach 5,500 MW this year.
Protests in various parts of Delhi, particularly in areas such as Sangam Vihar, Rohini, Dwarka and Khanjawala, were witnessed since Sunday. Electricity problems were reported mainly in west Delhi, including Uttam Nagar, Janakpuri, Hari Nagar and Tilak Nagar.
An angry woman protesting at Janakpuri said, 'Last year, we faced up to six hours of power cut everyday. This year, the problem has already started and we want the authorities to be prepared for the peak summer time.'
With rise in demand, areas across east, west, north and south Delhi continued to face outages for up to two hours due to shortage of power as well as local faults in the distribution network.
'There was no power in our area for two hours. Students are the worst sufferers as they have to study in dark and also have to face the scorching heat without air-conditioners,' said a resident of Palam in West Delhi.
However, Power department officials claimed there was no shortage in power, and that arrangements have been made to ensure uninterrupted supply of power during peak summer months.
Officials blamed that the neighbouring states who were overdrawing from the northern grid, force Delhi to restrict drawing its full quota.
Talking to Millennium Post, Rishi Raj, Public Relations Officer, Transco, said, 'We have not received any report of load-shedding incidents anywhere. We had some technical faults, but it was repaired and sometimes it is beyond our control to maintain the load-shedding. The outages take place due to local faults and overdrawal of power from the northern grid by the neighbouring states.'
Same is the condition of potable drinking water availability all over the city. At present the requirement of water in Delhi is about 1,100 MGD.
However, only 400 MGD are being supplied to people. And according to residents of Maidan Garhi and Poothkalan ward, they face scarcity of water and due to the negligence of DJB, the water which have been supplied is being mixed with sewage at many places due to which people were becoming victims of various diseases. Apparently, at many places the pipelines of DJB have rusted resulting in water leaks.
Earlier, thousands of people of Poothkalan ward blocked the traffic on Khanjawala road lead by BJP Councillor Devender Solanki, but the problem remains unsolved. 'We haven't been supplied water in our colony for many days, now. We are compelled to buy cans of water for Rs 30 each,' said a resident from Maidan Garhi.
Earlier, Millennium Post had reported that DJB workers were selling water in black and that two buckets of water cost residents Rs 50. Outer Delhi, rural Delhi, unauthorised colonies, slums and rehabilitation colonies were the worst affected areas. In many areas, those who have paid bills to the tune of Rs 1,600 to Rs 3,000 were also denied regular water supply.
Meanwhile, BJP Delhi Pradesh, in view of severe scarcity of water and power in the Capital, has decided to stage a demonstration in front of the offices of DJB, including its headquarters on 28 May.
DISCOMS TOLD OFF BY DELHI GOVERNMENT
If things go as Delhi government ordered, Delhi might not suffer frequent outages as now. The government on Tuesday has directed power distribution companies to repair their faulty transformers expeditiously so that high load on the transmission network does not lead to disruption in power supply.
Further, the discoms have also been told to attend to the local faults in their distribution network immediately, which have been identified as a major reason for power cuts in several areas in the city.
The directive from the government came after it was found out that outages have been taking place across the city due to faulty transformer and local faults in the distribution network. 'The local faults take place when the network fails to bear high load due to high demand. The outages also take place when transformers collapse,' said an official.
He said the government received reports of long power cuts in several areas along the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border in north east Delhi due to local faults. Discom BSES Yamuna Power Ltd supplies power in these areas.
'The power department has also asked the discoms to gear up their machinery in addressing the complaints of the consumers related to local faults,' said the official adding that it has been made clear to the companies that even load shedding for shorter duration should not take place.
The power department feels that there was adequate supply of power in the city and outages have been taking place due to local faults and problem in the transmission network.
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