Long unscheduled power cuts infuriate Bengaluru residents

Bengaluru: With the pre-monsoon showers lashing the city almost daily, many areas have been reporting power outages, leaving citizens worried. 

In many areas, residents say unscheduled power outages have extended for hours, disrupting their work. 

"Last night, there was a power outage for over 10 hours. Bescom officials claimed that it was due to a problem with the transformer in our area. However, they should have mechanisms to reduce the turnaround time. Ten hours of power outage in a city like Bengaluru is unacceptable,” said Ram P (name changed), a resident of Kadugodi. 

Many residents complained that long unscheduled power cuts in the summer were a problem since the heat is unbearable. 

"Children can't bear the heat. If there is a scheduled power outage, we can make some arrangements, but these sudden power outages for long durations are unbearable," said Aniruddha LP, a resident of Jayanagar. 

Residents also pointed out that power outages are common during the rains and asked Bescom to come up with a solution. 

Bescom officials, however, maintained that measures were being taken to prevent power outages, but pre-monsoon rains were causing damages to the electric infrastructure. 

"During summer, many trees go dry and the first few heavy showers of the year tend to uproot many of them, resulting in damage to power cables," a senior Bescom official explained. 

Yet another official added that the high temperature during the day and rain in the evening were damaging the infrastructure. 

"Overhead power cables are usually placed on silicon materials and turn brittle owing to the high temperature, while the showers after that damage them. Even in case of transformers, the sudden showers after a hot day cause damage,” the official said. 

Officials noted that it was difficult to prevent such infrastructure failures but they were trying to reduce the turnaround time to ensure that the public is not inconvenienced.