Mohali braves power cuts from 12 to 18 hrs: Residents slam govt's ‘free power' promise

Indian Express

13-06-2025

In a severe power crisis, residents of Mohali are reeling under relentless and unannounced electricity cuts lasting from 12 to 18 hours daily. Amid soaring temperatures, the lack of power has turned daily life into a nightmare, especially for the elderly and sick who depend on life-saving equipment like oxygen concentrators.
With inverters failing to sustain back-up, and fans and ACs rendered useless, residents have been forced to brave unbearable heat within the four walls of their homes.
'The government promises free electricity, but there's no power at all. These wires now serve only to dry clothes,' said Mayor Amarjit Singh Jeeti Sidhu. 'This government is a complete failure on all fronts.'
Councillors and RWAs across the city echoed the frustration. Senior Deputy Mayor Amreek Singh Somal highlighted the staff shortage: 'Only two employees are handling complaints across several sectors like Phase 7, Mataur and Sector 70–71. Transformers have blown, but repairs are delayed due to lack of manpower.'
Deputy Mayor Kuljit Singh Bedi warned: 'Many areas face 18-hour blackouts. If this is the situation in the capital region, imagine what must be going on in the rest of Punjab.'
Councillor Kamalpreet Singh Bunni said: 'There are just two linemen for areas from Phase 9 to Phase 10. Even after a recent strike, no action was taken. We demand infrastructure upgrades and more personnel.'
RWA president Jasbir Singh of Phase 7 submitted a memorandum demanding replacement of old, sagging wires and transformers.
Residents like Hargobind Singh, K V Singh, and others reported severe voltage fluctuations and delayed responses despite repeated complaints.
'We've been without power since 2 am,' said 75-year-old Jasjit Kaur and 80-year-old Manmohan Singh. 'Even inverters fail during such long power cuts. No one is responding.'
Councillor of Phase 7 Anuradha Anand said, 'I've received over 200 distress calls. I stayed up all night trying to coordinate with officials, but they claim to be busy elsewhere.'
Former deputy mayor Manjit Singh Sethi said that Mohali has only six PSPCL staff members managing the entire city. 'I had demanded extra transformers during winter, but nothing happened. The crisis was predictable.'
Finance Committee member Jasbir Singh Manku criticised the repeated unscheduled cuts in Phase 11 and called the government's free power promise 'hollow and misleading'.
Housing societies Gold Homes, Parkwood and SBP in Kharar's Sector 116 reported similar ordeals. Parvinder Singh Gill and Baljit Singh said that their residents rely on generators for 10 hours a day, burning diesel worth Rs 1.25 lakh monthly.
'Regular power would be far better than 'free' power that doesn't exist,' they said.
Sevak Singh, president of the Sector 123 (Airport road) Welfare Association, (New Sunny Enclave), said that electricity supply is highly erratic as it comes for a few hours and then goes off again. Residents are facing a lot of difficulties due to this. Just a couple of days ago, there was a complete power outage for an extended period because the transformer had burned out.
Residents of New Chandigarh area too faced the same power cuts. Residents of Zirakpur area of MS Enclave (Dhakoli) and Ravindra Enclave (Baltana) protested against PSPCL over the extended outages.
Responding to the crisis, PSPCL Superintending Engineer Sukhjit Singh said, 'The surge in AC usage has increased demand. Short power cuts are necessary to prevent overloading. There's no staff shortage and supply is being managed efficiently.'
He urged consumers to declare their actual power load to enable better service delivery.
Power cuts at Dera Bassi Civil Hospital created chaos, leaving patients and their attendants struggling in intense heat and humidity. Emergency, OPD, operation theatre, and registration counters plunged into darkness for over an hour, with inverters and generators failing too.