Patna reels from long power cuts

PATNA: Heatwave has gripped the city and thrown life out of gear. To top it all, untimely power outages and voltage fluctuations in areas like Boring Road, Buddha Colony, Raja Bazar, Samanpura, Macchua Toli, Ramnagari, among others, have left Patnaites fuming.
Ramnagari resident Arpita has had a harrowing time because of frequent power cuts in her area.She told this newspaper on Wednesday, “Electrical appliances like air conditioners (AC) and refrigerators are not functioning properly. As a result, the unbearable heat at night does not let my six-month-old child sleep well.”
After performing household chores, which can take all day, homemaker Shabana Imam is usually exhausted. “At the end of the day, all I want is a peaceful sleep, but power cuts have made my life miserable,” the Samanpura resident rued.
Students and office-goers have similar experiences to share. Boring Road resident Ayush Kaushik, who is pursuing BTech, asked, “Without proper supply of electricity, how will I study? What are the authorities doing?”
Government employee Krishna Kumar Mishra, who lives in Rupaspur, loses his cool whenever he returns home from office and experiences untimely power outages. He said, “There are no power cuts or voltage fluctuations in office, but the moment I reach home, the situation is different.”
Patna Electric Supply Undertaking (PESU) officials, however, pointed out that sufficient amount of electricity was being produced. According to PESU’s general manager Dilip Kumar Singh, the total electricity supply for Bihar is about 1,200MW and the average daily power demand of Patna is around 630MW these days.
Singh claimed that an increase in individual power consumption often led to momentary tripping.
“If informed, we can increase the capacity of transformers in an area and avoid frequent power cuts,” he said, adding officers were continuously monitoring power supply distribution and receiving complaints at fuse call centres in the city.