The Central Power Distribution Company (CPDCL) has begun to violate its own power cut schedules since the very day the schedules were announced. After declaring power cuts of an hour’s duration for the GHMC area on Friday, the company has not stuck to its schedules even for a single day. Several areas from the city experienced haphazard power cuts on Friday, Saturday and Sunday as well notwithstanding the schedules announced. On Friday, the CPDCL, through a press release announced that the GHMC area will be subjected to an hour’s power cut between 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. every day.
“We put up with outages thrice in the day on Saturday, and at 10.45 p.m. in the night. What is the point in announcing schedules if the officials cannot stick to them?” questioned R.Raghavendra Rao from Musheerabad.
On Friday night too, many areas experienced tedious outages, despite the Discom’s assurances not to impose power cuts after 6 p.m.
“We had a blackout after 10 p.m. on Friday. After an extremely hot day, it was really exasperating to put up with power cuts during night when all you want to do is sleep peacefully,” lamented K.Lakshmi from Tolichowki area.
Residents of many colonies in Uppal experienced prolonged outages on Saturday, as long as the IPL cricket match was on in the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium. Local people allege that power was given for the cricket match by depriving the ordinary consumers.
Complaints of outages arrived from Malkajgiri area too on Saturday night. Residents of Old City complained of irregular power cuts of shorter durations in addition to the hour-long power cut during the scheduled slot.
On Sunday too, when power consumption is considerably down due to closure of offices and industries, quite a few areas experienced prolonged power cuts.
“We had a power cut from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday. Even on other days too, no scheduled hours are maintained for outages. It is very annoying,” says G.Sai Kumar, a resident of Mansurabad. Parts of Kothapet too suffered power cuts of shorter durations at least four or five times on Sunday.
