Pune goes dark as heavy rainfall leads to frequent power cuts

Despite their claims of working round the clock, MAHADISCOM received 3,497 complaints of power cuts in the past 3 days

Pune: While incessant rainfall has forced several citizens to stay indoors, they’ve realised that there’s no peace to be had even at home.

The rains have led to long and frequent power cuts across the city, and frustrated citizens have made 3,497 complaints to Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MAHADISCOM) in the past three days.

Frequent power cuts compelled residents in various areas across the city to spend much of the past three days in the dark. Pic for representation

Residents of Senadatta Peth, Wanowrie, NIBM Road, Mohammadwadi, Pimple Saudagar and other parts of the city have come forward, recounting the several hardships they have had to bear without power supply. Ritesh Agarwal, a Wanowrie resident said that he had to climb eleven floors almost every day due to the power cuts in his area.

Agarwal added that the problem was a regular feature every monsoon, with the electricity board’s consistent failure to restore power during rains.

In Mohammadwadi where the power had been disconnected for over 12 hours, Brig (Retd) SS Desai, the chairperson of Nyati Estate said, “The fuse in our transformer burst on the night of Tuesday. The wiremen came to resolve the problem only on Wednesday morning, even though we had registered the complaint on the night of the incident. The three circuit breakers in the transformer are in a bad condition and we have been registering complaints to resolve this problem since the last ten years. However, MAHADISCOM has not paid heed.”

Officialspeak
MAHADISCOM officials rubbished the citizens’ complaints, and said that the department’s employees were making all efforts to restore electricity by working around the clock. According to Deputy Executive Engineer, BG Shendge, 2,812 of the 3,497 complaints received by the department had already been resolved.

“It is not our fault. The electricity cables are buried underground. When the civic administration dig up the roads, the cables get damaged, which leads to the electricity being disconnected during heavy rainfall,” said Chief Engineer of MAHADISCOM (Pune division), Nilkanth Wadekar.

"Exciting news! Mid-day is now on WhatsApp Channels Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!