Rural areas in Gurugram to get 24x7 power supply from Aug 15
Haryana's power distribution companies have announced that they are working towards providing 24x7 power supply to rural areas in Gurugram from August 15. The urban areas in Gurugram are already getting uninterrupted power supply, they added. Earlier, the Haryana government had said it aims to make Gurugram and Ambala districts power-cut free from August 15.
The state government?s promise that Gurgaon will be free of power cuts and get 24x7 electricity supply from August 15 got a new twist on Sunday. Shatrujeet Kapoor, chairman-cum-managing director of Haryana?s two power distribution companies, said that Gurgaon?s urban areas are already getting 24x7 power supply and now the government aims to improve electricity supply in villages.Kapoor, who heads Uttar and Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitaran Nigam (UHBVN-DHBVN), met panchayat representatives and discom officials at Farrukhnagar on Sunday to review the plan to provide uninterrupted power supply in?Gurgaon.?There are outages and technical faults in Gurgaon causing power cuts, but those area separate issues and have to be handled at the local level. The government had already announced that Gurgaon (urban areas)?will get uninterrupted power supply,? Kapoor said.?Our aim is to provide 24-hour electricity to rural areas of the district. The DHBVN has chalked out a plan for uninterrupted electricity to villages from August 15,? he added.Responding to Kapoor?s claims of urban Gurgaon getting uninterrupted power supply, Animesh Saxena, president of Udyog Vihar Industry Association, said, ?This is not true at all. We are dependent on generators for power back up as an average of four to five-hour power cuts continue to take place. If it happens due to a local fault, it is their (the discom?s)?responsibility to improve distribution.?Industry owners in the city have been grappling with long power cuts for the past four months.?If the infrastructure is pathetic, who is responsible for that? Who will rectify the error and improve electricity supply? Kapoor cannot get away by saying it has been announced that Gurgaon is getting uninterrupted power supply. The fact of the matter is that industries are facing an average of four-hour power cuts daily. So the government?s claim of uninterrupted supply is an eyewash,? said Ashok Kohli, president, Chamber of Industries, Udyog Vihar.The government aims to make Gurgaon and Ambala districts power-cut free from August 15. According to Kapoor, the government has prepared a blueprint under which rural feeders of these two districts will be strengthened and power infrastructure improved as per requirement. He said a Bijli Sudhar Samiti would be formed in every village of Gurgaon and Ambala to help make the plan a success. He added that faulty electricity lines will be replaced and new transformers installed in the district for which a Rs45-crore fund has been approved.The CMD said that the power utilities have distributed around 1.25 crore LED bulbs in the last one year to save around 200 mega watt (MW) power daily. He added that if power theft is curbed, electricity rates can come down.Rao Narbir Singh, minister for public works (buildings and roads), too visited several villages in his Badshahpur assembly constituency on Friday and announced the state?s plan to provide 24x7 electricity supply in Gurgaon.