With the power demand and breakdowns increasing in the wake of the sweltering heat, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Tuesday directed the private power distribution companies to act swiftly on power cut complaints.
Demanding that such complaints be taken up in right earnest so that the consumers do not suffer due to power cuts in the severe heat, the Chief Minister said as there was ample power in the Capital to meet its daily demand, the Delhi Government will not take outages lightly and would see to it that there are no interruptions in normal power supply during the peak summer season.
The Chief Minister made these remarks during a meeting called to review the power situation in the backdrop of numerous power cuts caused by local faults. The meeting was also attended by Chief Secretary Rakesh Mehta, Chief Minister’s Principle Secretary P.K. Tripathi, chief executive officers of the discoms and senior officers of Delhi Transco and Power Department.
It was reported at the meeting that with the increase in temperature and humidity in Delhi, the power demand has shot up and touched 4,680 MW on Monday. With the rise in demand, the number of complaints due to local faults had also increased.
Taking cognisance of the situation, the Chief Minister directed the discoms to provide alternate cables in case repairs required a long duration of time. This would provide relief to customers during the summer season, she said.
Besides, the Chief Minister also directed that special arrangements be made to respond to complaints of local faults at night. She also instructed them to submit a list of those un-attended local fault complaints which lasted for more than two hours.
Ms. Dikshit said proper functioning of the call centres should also be ensured by deploying senior executives and extra telephone lines and provisions should be made to receive complaints through SMS as well. The discoms have also been told to disseminate the telephone numbers of their call centres and respective nodal officers.
The Chief Minister also instructed them to submit a list of those un-attended local fault complaints which exceeded more than two hours. She also directed the discoms to notify area-wise nodal officers to enable ordinary customers to contact them in case of any emergency.
