Ravet, Kiwale residents, corporator meet MSEDCL officials over frequent power cuts

Pune: Residents of Ravet and Kiwale, along with local corporator Aishwarya Taras, met officials from the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL) on Wednesday, demanding immediate measures to improve power supply in these fast-growing suburbs as complaints of frequent power outages have increased over the past few days.Residents said the situation has worsened over the past month, with soaring temperatures making repeated disruptions difficult to endure.Amol Kalekar, a resident, said while occasional outages were not new to the area, their frequency had increased sharply in the past month. "We are facing power cuts at least four times a day. Sometimes supply resumes within 30 minutes, but at other times it takes one or two hours," he said.Kalekar claimed that a shortage of staff was delaying restoration work. "We have raised this issue with officials several times before. We were told that the existing infrastructure is insufficient for the rapidly growing population in this area," he added.He noted that Ravet and Kiwale are among the fastest-developing localities in the city and said authorities must expedite infrastructure expansion to meet rising demand.Another resident, Manoj Sharma, said fluctuations in supply were as troubling as the outages themselves. "It is not just the power cuts. There is often low voltage, which can damage electronic appliances. Besides, nobody answers calls when power fails, and there is no prior intimation about disruptions," he said.In a letter submitted to MSEDCL, Taras said inadequate manpower was resulting in delayed repairs and poor grievance redressal."Only two staff members are deployed at each station to handle complaints, which slows down restoration during breakdowns. The number of staff must be increased, failing which we will be forced to launch a larger protest," she said.MSEDCL officials, however, maintained that there were no planned or regular load-shedding cuts in the area and that efforts were being made to restore supply at the earliest in case of faults.Ratnadeep Kale, assistant engineer at MSEDCL, said a back-feeding system was in place to minimise disruption during breakdowns. "Power demand has increased during the summer and after the LPG shortage, as more people are relying on electricity," he said.Kale added that a separate Ravet section has been proposed, and recruitment for additional manpower will begin shortly. "The process is likely to be completed within two months, after which more staff will be available on the ground in each locality," he said.
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