Chhatarpur (Madhya Pradesh): Residents of Chhatarpur are in a pickle these days because of extreme heat and frequent power cuts.
Since the temperature has shot up to 44 degrees Celsius, the consumption of electricity has increased by seven lakh units daily, because the residents are using coolers, fans and air-conditioners.
In Chhatarpur city, 44,500 consumers generally use three lakh units, but because of extreme heat it has gone up to seven lakh units.
This is the reason that the transformers and cables are not working properly leading to power cut, sources said.
The Suklana area of the city remained in darkness for 36 hours. Similarly, Choubey colony and Sitaram colony did not get power supply throughout the day on Tuesday.
The residents of more than 20 wards are struggling with low voltage that damages electrical equipment like fans, air-conditioners and coolers.
According to reports, nearly 200 complaints are received at the electricity office.
Besides, more than 50 complaints are made through the toll free landline phone of Jabalpur.
Most of the complaints are related to frequent power cuts, low voltage and burning of transformers.
According to power officials, with the available resources, they can solve only 50 complaints a day and deal with the rest of the plaints the next day.
Since the list of complaints is very, it is taking time to solve the problems, they said.
There is neither adequate staff nor enough resources to deal with the present situation.
The department has only three vehicles working for 24 hours. During the day two vehicles work, and only one vehicle works art night, official sources.
Since most of the complaints are received at night, the number of staff available to attend the plaints is very less, sources further said, adding that this is the reason that repairing works are delayed.
In the congested areas in the city, the cables and transformer have become so old that they may stop functioning anytime, they further said.
Since the population is increasing every year, the equipment cannot bear the load, besides neither the cables have been changed nor the transformers repaired.
In-charge of maintenance department of the electricity board in Chhatarpur, Rajkumar Lodhi, said most of the problems occurred because of increase in load.
To deal with the situation, the department is setting up a small power sub-station that will be completed in a week, he said, adding that the cables will be changed in thickly populated areas in the city.
Linemen and meter readers are being called from rural areas to speed up the work, he said, adding that four persons have been deployed to attend calls in the day and two persons to do that at night.
