Stormy night, powerless morning

Chandigarh: It was a long, hard day for tricity residents as they battled a soaring temperature, power cuts, and the damage caused by the storm that hit the city in the wee hours of Sunday.
There was no electricity supply to most parts of Mohali and Zirakpur through the day, as power lines were snapped by high-velocity winds touching 45km/hr. In the two Punjab towns, power officials got most of the grid up and running only by late afternoon.However, the residents of Mohali, Panchkula and Zirakpur said power cuts had been routine this year, and the storm only made a bad situation go worse.
In Chandigarh and Panchkula, electricity supply was shut for two-three hours to most areas. In UT, however, the UT electricity department got 120 complaints on Saturday night. Panchkula was mostly unaffected. Zirakpur was the worst hit, and residents were at the receiving end of a power outage at night and then again had to go without electricity supply during the day. Zirakpur resident Rajat Saini, 20, said he had to miss work as there was no water supply. "Because of the power outrage, I could not use the water pump," he said.
Mahavir Singh, the president of the resident welfare association of Shiva Enclave in Zirakpur, said there was no power supply for 18 hours. "The power supply was shut from 4.30 pm on Saturday to 11am on Sunday," he said. "Before that, there was no power supply on Saturday from 9am to 4pm. Just try to picture our plight."
Only one phase was down, but the electricity department took the whole night to repair it, Mahavir said. Meanwhile, a Zirakpur resident, Maange Ram, claimed that though he phoned the electricity department's helpline, nobody picked up the phone. "We phoned on the numbers distributed by the electricity department, but not even a single officer from picked up the calls. We know how we survived the Saturday night," he said.
According to the power department, the pamphlets containing officials' phone numbers were a mischief. "Our complaint numbers are 1912 and 9646137873. These are open 24X7," the official said.
In Mohali, parts of Phase II, 3B1, 3B2 were at the receiving end of power cuts, ranging from an hours to five hours.