Officials test patience of the powerless

Even though summer is long past, it appears that demand for inverters is increasing slowly but surely, thanks to the increasing unscheduled power cuts in the city.

 Officially, the Andhra Pradesh Central Power Distribution Company Ltd (APCPDCL) claims it’s just implementing the scheduled threehour power cut but citizens in different parts of the city, particularly in areas such as Alwal and Malkajgiri, allege that they have been suffering from frequent power cuts of up to five hours every single day.

 “Power supply is cut from 10.30 a.m to 12 noon and from 4.30 p.m to 6 p.m. everyday.

 But unscheduled power cuts of short durations are so frequent that another two hours can be easily added.

 I spent  Rs 25,000 on an inverter just because of that,” fumed GV Rao, general secretary of the Greater Alwal Allied Service Association (Gaasa).

 According to him, many in Alwal were forced to buy inverters as sometimes, power supply was being cut even at night.

 Echoing his views, Nikhil Paul, a resident of Alwal, said they were now used to unscheduled power cuts.

 BT Srinivasa Rao, a resident of Malkajgiri, too said, “power cuts easily exceed five hours for us here.

 Nothing has improved in spite of complaining regularly to the assistant engineers.

” He added that besides the three-hour scheduled power cut, the officials were cutting power supply at least three times a day.

 When contacted, the officials cited maintenance and transmission failure or repairs for the unscheduled power cuts.

 Narsimha Rao, Chief General Manager, Ranga Reddy district, APCPDCL, said if there was a problem at any sub-station or feeder, it had to be shut down for maintenance.

 “There is no other option.

 To avoid complete shutdown of the grid, we have to do that or there will be a complete collapse,” he pointed out.

 AG Satish Kumar, Chief General Manager, Metro Zone, also explained that due to unexpected problems on feeders and at substations, power was cut to take up repairs.

 “One line has thousands of connections, so that is why complaints come pouring in.

 And we make sure repairs are done quickly,” he said.