GMADA's failure to pay ₹100 crore for infra upgrade behind Mohali's power blues
Imagine stepping into your home in pitch black to find that the power is out. You wait for hours, unable to use any appliance, sweating it out without fans and air conditioners, phone battery dying out, but there is no sign of power being restored.
For years, this has been the reality for Mohali residents. On Wednesday night too, after the storm, large parts of the districts were left without power for extended periods. In Sectors 91 and 94, power supply remained suspended for nearly 20 hours, and was restored only on Thursday evening. Aerocity, Industrial Area Phase 8-B, and Zirakpur witnessed outages lasting up to 15 hours.
All this, due to Greater Mohali Area Development Authority's (GMADA) failure to pay ₹100 crore to the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) for the development of crucial infrastructure such as substations, distribution lines, and transmission networks.
Mohali's power demand surges to 1,500 megawatts in peak summers, but it has a capacity of only 1,400 megawatts. This leads to overloaded transformers, which often break down, resulting in outages lasting from 4 to 8 hours. Several 66 KV grids, including those in Mullanpur, Bhabhat, Phase 9 (Mohali), and Gillco (Kharar), are currently overloaded, leading to regular rotational cuts. Similar issues persist at grids in Tuer village, Mullanpur, and Seonk due to line overloading.
As per GMADA's undertaking to the PSPCL in 2014, all charges related to 66 KV substations, 66 KV transmission lines, 11 KV distribution lines, and upgrade of 220 KV substations, are to be borne by the development authority within its jurisdiction. Accordingly, PSPCL has sent several reminders and held multiple meetings with GMADA for the release of funds to the tune of ₹100 crore, but no tangible progress has been made.
Notably, GMADA has already collected the required funds from private builders under the External Development Charges (EDC) over the past several years. This has been seen in the case of Sectors 110, 119, 101, and Aerocity, where 66 KV grids have been planned but GMADA is yet to release payments.
In the Kharar and Zirakpur, PSPCL has also been collecting system loading charges from various private developers, but the infrastructure is yet to be upgraded accordingly.
According to PSPCL records, 66-kilovolt (KV) grids are to be constructed in Sector 82, 119, 125, Majra, Ansal, Ecocity-2, and Medicity.
GMADA chief engineer Anuj Sehgal said the issue is already under discussion. 'We are taking up the matter with the authorities concerned,' he said.
Mohali district has nearly 3.5 lakh electricity consumers across various categories, with over 3 lakh falling under the domestic category.
Deputy mayor Kuljeet Singh Bedi said life has become increasingly difficult for residents here due to frequent and extended power cuts, with some areas going without electricity for over 24 hours. 'Even newly developed sectors such as 76 to 80, 3B1, TDI, Phase 7, see frequent power disruptions' he said.
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