Cruel summer: Delhi sweats over power, water

NEW DELHI: The city found itself grappling with a dual crisis on Tuesday: an acute power shortage coinciding with a soaring mercury level. The outage, which began at around 2pm, was triggered by a fire at a power grid in Mandola, Uttar Pradesh, which supplies 1,500MW to the capital. The duration of the power cuts varied across different areas, with some experiencing blackouts lasting up to an hour, while others were without power for two to three hours.

The power disruptions, combined with daytime temperatures exceeding 43 degrees Celsius in several parts of the city, created a challenging situation for people in ITO, Laxmi Nagar, Lajpat Nagar, Jamia, Narela, Model Town, Rohini, Kashmere Gate, Civil Lines, Mukherjee Nagar, Jahangirpuri, Sarita Vihar and Sukhdev Vihar.
The residents had to endure the sweltering heat without fans and AC. Other conveniences like lifts and escalators too went out of operation during the outage. As Sanjay Gupta of Model Town said, "Several blocks of Model Town had power failure for an hour. The RWA WhatsApp groups started buzzing. Even lifts were out of operation, making it especially difficult for old people to go out or come home."
BS Vohra, who heads the East Delhi RWAs Joint Front, said there was no electricity in his area for over an hour and a half. "The situation has been bad in the past week, and worsened today," he said. "Both of my daughters are studying for their exams and it was tough for them without electricity."
With traffic lights not working either, there were jams in some areas. A traffic officer said the power outage from 2.10pm to 3.45pm affected traffic signals at ITO, Krishna Nagar, East Azad Nagar, Bihari Colony and GTB Enclave. Among the affected areas across the city were prominent junctions such as Rajghat crossing, Delhi Gate crossing, Daryaganj, Guru Nanak Chowk, Ajmeri Gate, Kamala Market, Minto Road and Deendayal Upadhyaya-Kotla Road. Also affected were Kalka Das Marg, Liberty Cinema, Munjal Chowk, Khadda Point, Shadipur Chowk and Kalinga Chowk.
Traffic personnel managed the affected traffic intersections manually and ensured a smooth flow without any congestion being reported in the traffic circles.
Power minister Atishi said she has sought time to meet Union power minister Manohar Lal Khattar and the chairperson of Power Grid Corporation of India, saying the consequences of a power failure in the national capital due to a national grid problem could prove serious.
"Very little electricity is produced in Delhi, so we buy electricity from other states. This reaches us through NTPC and PGCIL. It is very worrying that today the national power infrastructure collapsed," she said. "If the power infrastructure in the country's capital fails like this because of the national grid, then it can have very serious consequences."
Discom Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited, which provides power in north Delhi, claimed it swiftly restored electricity to homes. It said that load shedding of 440MW affected four lakh consumers, starting at 14.11pm. "Almost immediately, alternate supply was arranged from other grids and supply restoration started by 14.58pm," a company statement said.