PUNE: Residents of Baner Pashan Link Road (BPLR) claimed that they had been facing a series of power failures over the past two months.
In the first 10 days of September, there have been at least four power disruptions ranging from 10 minutes to three hours, residents said. Members of housing societies in the area said the frequent power failures are causing serious disruptions as many people are working from home and children have online classes.
Rajendra Chutar, president of the Baner Pashan Link Road Welfare Trust, said officials blame “technical problems” for the power disruptions. “Sometimes they say the problem is at the NCL substation, other times it is near one of the societies. How are we talking about smart cities if this is the situation,” said Chutar.
Residents say they have prepared a log of all the power-related disruptions and already visited the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited last week to request officials to survey the area. According to the log, there have been 50 incidents of power failure in the past two months.
An MSEDCL official said last week that residents met him following which power staff carried out maintenance work. “Almost 90% of the work is done and the remaining will be completed in two days. Problems arise due to moisture getting trapped in various electrical lines and boxes. All our cables are underground. As societies get old, the wiring also ages due to which insulation becomes weak leading to moisture which causes power failures,” said the official.
According to resident Manish Mishra, the MSEDCL should consider buying high-quality cables and durable equipment. “Moisture cannot always be a reason, especially since Pune gets heavy rainfall,” said Mishra.
The area also houses retirement home Athashri, where power outages cause serious problems for senior citizens. Former society president Hari Sundaresh said the average age of most residents is above 80. “Uninterrupted power supply is essential for washing clothes, heating food and ensuring hot water. There is a generator backup for lifts and lighting of common facilities but a permanent solution is required,” said Sundaresh. He also sought to know why the MSEDCL hasn’t invested in good insulation for its power utilities if it claims moisture is the problem for the outages.
