Mancherial residents fume over erratic NPDCL power supply
Mancherial town is facing daily power cuts lasting over an hour, drawing sharp criticism from residents and farmers. NPDCL officials attributed the outages to line maintenance and weather-related disruptions, but consumers complained of inconvenience during social functions and irrigation.
Mancherial: This town is reeling under frequent power outages, causing inconvenience to customers of Northern Power Distribution Company Limited (NPDCL).
Despite the end of summer, interruptions in power supply have become a routine at Hi-Tech City Colony, Laxminagar, Gowthaminagar, Vikasnagar and many other parts of the town. Power is being cut every day for at least an hour without prior information. The unannounced shutdowns are drawing sharp criticism from the consumers.
The residents said that they were facing inconvenience due to erratic power supply. They stated that they were compelled to rely on inverters to tackle the interruptions in electricity. They opined that they were taken aback by unprecedented outages of power during monsoon. They urged officials to address the challenge.
The interruptions are in particular annoying those who conduct social functions such as birthdays, naming, cradle ceremonies, etc in small function halls. The organisers argued that they could arrange alternatives if the officials updated them about the shutdowns in advance. They stated that their guests were expressing displeasure over the outages.
When asked, NPDCL officials said that the scheduled maintenance of power lines was resulting in outages of power. They stated that tripping in electricity lines would also cause interruptions in power. They noted that power was generally disrupted by gales and rains for a while. They, however, assured to resolve the erratic supply of electricity.
Meanwhile, farmers said that they are forced to hire oil engines to draw water from wells to irrigate paddy saplings. They stated that they sowed the seeds twice due to prolonged dry spell. They disclosed that they were trying to save the saplings using engines to lift water from wells and streams, shelling out huge amounts for purchasing fuel.
They added that West Asia conflict which resulted in hike of fuel prices would cause financial burden.
