Pune: On Wednesday night, residents from Baner to Bibvewadi experienced extensive power cuts lasting several hours, a day after similar disruptions affected thousands in Dhanori, Vishrantwadi, and Lohegaon. The outages followed heavy pre-monsoon rains and thunderstorms in several parts of the city.
Citizens have questioned the effectiveness of the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited’s (MSEDCL) 'weekly scheduled maintenance' on Thursdays, wondering why significant faults still occur after rains.
Shuvabrata Halder, a citizen residing in Prakriti Society in Balewadi, stated power outage was for more than two hours. MSEDCL officials stated that feeder fault caused this outage and it took more than two hours to restore the supply. Another citizen from the same locality complained that their area suffered from power outage since 11.50pm on Wednesday night and which was not restored till Thursday afternoon 2pm.
Bibvewadi residents were also furious over frequent power cuts and outages since Monday. Mahesh Society resident, Amol Kadam said, "Power supply is interrupted immediately before or after the rain starts, but MSEDCL officials are not prompt to restore the supply. There are senior citizens and children who suffer due to prolonged power outage. Inverter backups and mobile batteries were drained and we were helpless for several hours. What do we do in case of any medical emergencies?"
A high-pressure feeder pillar in Kalyaninagar had caught fire on Wednesday morning. Power was restored after 45 minutes by MSEDCL officials. Meanwhile, IMD has forecast thunderstorms and heavy rains in Pune till June 10.
