Thane: Residents question secrecy in Covid matters

Manoj Badgeri | TNN | Updated: May 5, 2020, 18:00 IST

A migrant is thermally scanned by a medic at a police station as part of necessary formalities to travel back to his native place, amid Covid-19 lockdown in Thane. (PTI)

A migrant is thermally scanned by a medic at a police station as part of necessary formalities to travel back ...Read More

THANE: Lakhs of residents from Thane and suburbs including Kalwa, Mumbra are literally facing the heat during the lockdown thanks to the frequent unscheduled power cuts reported in these areas over the last few weeks.
If residents from Mumbra, Shil and neighbouring Kalwa are to be believed, their areas witness unscheduled outages lasting few hours several times daily in addition to the scheduled weekly power cut. These cuts not only drain out backup power from the invertors but also disconnects WiFi connectivity leaving those working from home or students taking e-lessons in the lurch, complain residents who are compelled to sweat it at home in the sultry weather.
"We face these unscheduled cuts almost daily. Even today, Tuesday, there was no power for two hours, once in the morning and later in the noon making it unbearable for us. I am working from home while my children are taking online lessons and these sudden outages add to our problem," complained S Kulkarni, a resident of Ozone Valley in Parsik Nagar, Kalwa.
It may be noted the power supply management to nearly 2.5lakh consumers in these areas is managed by a private company since March 1, this year. Local activists and corporators complained they have been reaching out to the authorities but to no impact and said the situation would worsen with the rising heat in the coming month.
A resident of a nearby slum settlement between Mumbra and Kalwa said it is nothing but a punishment to endure the scorching heat sitting inside their 10x10 hutment without power. "We are almost baking daily for two hours after the power goes off leaving us with no options. The heat doesn’t allow us to sit inside our huts while the authorities do not allow us to even venture out of our homes, lamented a resident.
Meanwhile, the power company blamed the sudden rise in demand and the sagging infrastructure here for the frequent disruptions in the supply in these areas. “There has been a 10-15% rise in power demand from these areas which is causing strain on the distribution network that desperately needs an overhaul. Our teams are working 24x7 to mitigate any faults and are also requesting the collector to allow us to undertake major upgradation works in the coming days,” said a company representative.