Residents of Kansal and Nayagaon villages in Mohali district are grappling with severe and prolonged power outages, with electricity disappearing for up to eight hours every day. The erratic supply, managed by the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL), has thrown daily life into disarray, causing widespread frustration and hardship.
Daily Life Grinds to a Halt
The power cuts are not only long but also unpredictable, often occurring every hour without any prior warning from the authorities. This has made routine activities nearly impossible for the local population. Vijaya Pushkarna, a resident, highlighted a critical issue with the official complaint system. She stated that after lodging a complaint via the PSPCL app, a message declaring "Your power supply has been restored" appears quickly, but the electricity does not actually come back. This practice has severely eroded public trust in the power department's accountability.
The situation is exacerbated by the fact that the official PSPCL complaint helpline numbers remain consistently unanswered, leaving citizens with no effective channel for urgent redressal.
Students, Elderly, and Businesses Bear the Brunt
The impact of these outages is multifaceted and severe. Despite the winter season, the long power cuts are creating serious difficulties for vulnerable groups, including the elderly and those with medical conditions. Young children are also affected.
Students preparing for exams or attending online classes are facing major disruptions to their academic schedules. Local traders report that their businesses are suffering significant financial losses as operations repeatedly come to a standstill due to the unreliable power supply.
Expressing the community's anger, Sumeet Singh, President of the Kansal Residents Welfare Association, revealed that these crippling power cuts have become a "routine" feature for the past three to four months. "Living without electricity for eight hours a day has made life miserable," he said. He warned that if unavoidable outages are not communicated in advance and a permanent fix is not provided, people will be compelled to stage protests.
PSPCL Cites Infrastructure Upgrade, Promises Relief
When confronted with the complaints, a PSPCL official provided an explanation for the chaos. PSPCL official Sandeep Kumar attributed the frequent outages in Kansal to transformer failures caused by increased load. He claimed that to resolve this chronic issue, new power lines have been laid from Nayagaon to Kansal and a new feeder has been installed. This upgrade work, he said, was responsible for the temporary but extended power cuts.
Kumar assured residents that most of the corrective work is nearly complete and that people will soon experience relief from the frequent interruptions. He even claimed that the improvements would hold up during the high-demand summer months ahead.
Meanwhile, similar problems continue to plague multiple localities in Nayagaon, where residents are also enduring extended periods without electricity, indicating a broader systemic issue in the region's power distribution network.
