Panchkula faces severe power shortage

PANCHKULA: Panchkula which is known for its 'power- cut free' image but this summers it is gradually showing some change because last night some parts of the major sectors faced power cut for about four hours.
Some parts of Sectors- 2,4,6,8,7, 11, 12A, 16, 12,21,20,25, 26, 27 suffered cut for about four hours during night.
"Why cant the electricity officials keep sufficient back up? The time was very harrowing because one can still afford to spend time in the day time but not during the night specially when one has a date with the mosquitoes," said Priya Jamwal, a resident of sector-20, Panchkula.She further added, "At least had we been informed about the cut by the electricity officials, we would have gone to our relative's place. The situation is all the more worse when the next day it is a working day."
There were some who slept using the air-conditioner of their cars.
"When the whether becomes a bit stormy, the officials put off the supply even before it rains. We slept using the air conditioner of our car those three hours. One cant sleep with the light of the invertors. We hope it does not become any every-day process because using air conditioners of the car is proving expensive due to the petrol prices," said Charu Sharma, a resident of sector-2, Panchkula who had to bear with the cut from 10 to 2.
"I just hope it doesn't become a routine habit because spending time during these hours is a torture. If it is for about half an hour, then its fine but three and a half hours is even worse than an examination hall. Panchkula was better than Chandigarh due to this quality that there were no electricity cuts but I think it is following suit, said Ritika Dhir, a student and a resident of sector-11,Panchkula.
When contacted the Sub Divisional officer (SDO) of the Panchkula electricity department, Himanshu Sheokand, he said, "It was due to technical fault not a scheduled cut. Though I agree that in summers the load increases due to the use of air conditioners and other appliances but we have sufficient back up for that.And even otherwise as a precautionary measure we prefer to put off the power when it becomes stormy."