The Hindu : No end to Delhi's summer woes

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 20, 2002

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No end to Delhi's summer woes

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI MAY 19. No water, no electricity and heat wave-like conditions sweeping across the Capital. It was another miserable weekend for Delhiites today.

With the mercury giving no respite from the heat and situation on the water and power front being what it is, people literally had to sweat it out.

``First time in several years, I am experiencing such long hours of power cuts,'' rued S.P. Das, a resident of Chittaranjan Park in South Delhi. As for potable water, he said his family has not taken a full bath for nearly a week now.

``Water pressure has been very low. We are struggling for every bucket of water even with a booster pump,'' he said, adding, "life in the Capital is becoming miserable and unbearable.''

In R.K.Puram Sector XII, which experienced several hours of load-shedding, people complained of very low voltage. "Even the fans could not function with this voltage, what to think of coolers. When there is no power, there is no water as well,'' said D.P. Thakur, a resident of the colony.

Complaints of abrupt and irregular power cuts were reported from Mayur Vihar, Laxmi Nagar, Vivek Vihar, Model Town, Azadpur, Rohini, Pitampura, Shalimar Bagh, Punjabi Bagh, Karol Bagh, New Rajinder Nagar, Patel Nagar, Madangir, Saket, Deoli, Badarpur, Tigri, Pushpa Vihar, Kalkaji, Lajpat Nagar, Ashram, Okhla, South Extension and Malviya Nagar.

However, for its part the Delhi Vidyut Board claimed that the situation was normal on the power front. "We resorted to a load-shedding of just 47 MW today and no major power breakdown was reported from any part of the Capital. The number of complaint too has been very less today,'' a DVB official said. "The peak power demand met by the DVB today was 2,686 MW at 1 p.m. and the frequency and voltage conditions were also very good,'' he added. Similarly, a large parts of the Capital went without any water mainly due to low pressure and absence of power. In colonies where the residents have not installed booster pumps, water did not reach their homes. "I have not been receiving any water for the past fortnight,'' said a fourth-floor residence of Millennium Apartments in Rohini.

``We are in fact struggling for every drop of water. We rise early in the morning at around 4 anticipating that a few drops of water might trickle in, it in vain. It has been four days since I filled up my desert cooler. There is no water ,'' said Shanti Sharma, a resident of Pushpa Vihar in South Delhi.Meanwhile, the Delhi Power Minister, Ajay Maken, continued to make surprise raids in various parts of the Capital to monitor the situation on the power front.

During his visit to the DVB complaint centres at Hauz Quazi and Lahori Gate, Mr. Maken inspected the complaint registers and log books and talked with the people here. He also cross-inquired from the phone number mentioned in the complaint register.

Interacting with the people, Mr. Maken said the DVB would soon come out with a time-bound schedule for repairing the local faults. "This will make the officials accountable,'' he said.

Taking a serious note of the deteriorating water and power situation in the Capital in particular in the Outer and Delhi, the Delhi Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, had a review meeting along with the senior officials of the DVB and the Delhi Jal Board. At today's meeting the MLA's explained their problems relating to water and problem problems. However, the BJP MLA's were conspicuous by their absence.

Ms. Dikshit said the situation was not as bad as was being reported. She said that the Union Power Minister, Suresh Prabhu, has appreciated the power management in the Capital compared to the other States.

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