Frequent power-cuts in Gurgaon’s urban residential areas forced people out on the roads last Sunday. The authority's version differs from the reality on the ground.
- ‘‘The situation has improved considerably during the past couple of days,’’ said DHBVN’s Superintending Engineer M.L Goyal. ‘‘The power situation in these areas is being monitored minute-by-minute from Chandigarh’’ said Goyal.
- But on seeing little improvement over the past few days, as many as 56 Residents Welfare Associations (RWAs) under the aegis of NGO People’s Action, are now planning to move court.
Confirming the move, People’s Action president Sanjay Kaul said: ‘‘We are seeking legal opinion and are exploring possibilities of getting an injunction from the court. ‘‘Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitaran Nigam (DHBVN) is a service provider and we are the consumers. We feel that the terms of contract between both the parties are not being met and there is a deficiency in service,’’ said Kaul. ‘‘We are planning not to pay our electricity bills from next month onwards to DHBVN. Instead, we want that the payments be deposited in a court,’’ said People’s Action Gurgaon convenor Inder Nath. He also added that efforts were on to reach a unanimous decision on this.
Meanwhile, DHBVN has decided to impose power regulatory measures throughout Gurgaon since September 8 to ease the problem in urban residential areas. Under these measures, industries having a load of 1 MW and above will not be given power for a 15-day period. Other industries having a load below 1 MW will face a power-cut from 7 pm to 6 am for the same period.
Despite these cuts in industrial areas, DHBVN still plans to impose an eight-hour cut daily in urban residential areas. An official circular of the DHBVN reads: ‘‘Power supply to urban and mix urban feeder would be regulated for eight hours a day, for 2-3 hours each during 6am-noon, noon-7pm and 7pm-6am. Going by this, Gurgaon residents will still face eight-hour long cuts.
