Summer woes are taking a toll

With the constant rise in temperature, the City is not only reeling under the heat but facing electricity and water shortage too.

Load shedding and maintenence work is going on in many parts of the City and some areas are facing power cuts even up to six and seven hours a day.

The demand for water tankers are also on the rise, while the workforce at BESCOM is trying their best to ensure that Bangaloreans have a hassle-free summer.

Last weekend, Ashok Nagraj, a resident of Whitefield, faced a power cut for nearly eight hours due
to maintenance work.

“I understand that the BESCOM needs to do its job, but why on a weekend? Sunday is when we have a holiday and that’s when we spend time with our family. Without power, it becomes difficult and the heat is unbearable during the day,” he tells Metrolife.

Mahadev, chief general manager of BESCOM, however says that this year there has been no load
shedding at all anywhere in the City.

As for the power cuts, he says, “At times, there are interruptions that lead to power failure and as soon as we get the message at the office, we send people to fix it. This takes time and many people assume that it’s load shedding. We have ensured that both rural and urban areas get uninterrupted power.”

Final exams are going on for most school and college students and power cuts are
a major concern for them.

But a majority of them have prepared themselves to overcome the power shortage by using UPS facilities and emergency lights.

“I live in an apartment and we have UPS facility. So most of the time, I don’t even know if there is a power cut,” says Aishwarya, a II PUC student.

But Prerna, a law student who lives in a paying guest accommodation, says that there are days when there are power cuts for quite a few hours in the evening.

“We have emergency lamps which light up the place for a few hours. But after that, there is not much we can do except wait for the power to be restored,” she notes.

Water shortage is another major problem. People living even in the heart of the City are facing it.

Sharmila, a lecturer at Surana College lives near Avenue Road, and has been facing severe water shortage. “There has been no solution to this. We are 11 of us in the house and it is difficult to do all the washing and cleaning.

We have to ensure that every drop of water counts,” she says.

Krishnan, a student who stays in Vignana Nagar, also faces a similar problem.

“We call water tankers four times a day and each time, they charge close to Rs 600, which turns out to be very expensive,” he says.

And if this is the case at the beginning of summer, one can only wonder how it’s going to be during the peak season.