NOIDA: Power cuts lasting at least a few hours have become part of the lives of people staying in newer sectors of the city.Over Rs 120 crore had been sanctioned for annual repair and maintenance works by Paschimanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited for the city. The initial focus remained on sprucing up older sectors like 19, 20, 22, 25, 27 and more.Over the past 10 years, the newer sectors like 105, 122 and 144 have seen a rapid growth in population. However, the decade-old infrastructure has lagged behind. Although the discom has planned makeovers, delays in budget disbursals has led to delayed tendering.These sectors have been frequently going without power over the past few days. Some areas experience day-long tripping due to voltage fluctuation. Sector 3 in Greater Noida West, and Abhay Khand, Gyan Khand, parts of Vasundhara in Ghaziabad are also affected.General secretary of Sector 144 RWA Bhagat Singh Tongad said the power cuts are affecting their quality of life. “The situation becomes more arduous during the summer season,” he said. “Often, the power supply is restored for only a few minutes before going off again. These persistent power cuts are adversely affecting children’s studies, the comfort of the elderly, water supply, and daily household chores.”He filed a complaint with the electricity department on Tuesday.In Sector 122, Umesh Sharma complained that he has not slept well for the past few days. When there is a power cut at night, he is often the one coordinating with the linesmen, who, he alleged, are often unable to locate faults. “The issue is not merely a single isolated fault, but rather a systemic failure of the entire infrastructure. Serious questions are being raised regarding the quality of everything, from cables to transformers,” he said.Similar power cuts and tripping have occurred in Sector 3, Greater Noida West. “We had a meeting with Noida Power Company Limited (NPCL) officials last week and we complained to them about the frequent outages faced in our sectors, especially at B block. They said their technical teams would conduct an inspection,” said a resident of the sector, Deo Raj Tiwari.The company assured it will strengthen its power infrastructure across the city. “We commissioned a new 12.5 MVA, 33/11 kV substation at Site-4 on Monday. This will significantly improve network flexibility, enhance supply reliability and support the region’s growing electricity demand. Consumers in Site-4, Swarn Nagri and Sector 36 are expected to benefit from better power quality and a more reliable electricity supply. The additional capacity will also help reduce the load on the existing Sector 36 substation, improving overall system efficiency,” said a spokesperson of the company.The company is also set to commission another 12.5 MVA substation at Ecotech-3 later this week. It will benefit industrial consumers as well as residents of Jalpura, Habibpur, Haldoni, and nearby villages, ensuring improved power availability and enhanced network performance.Apart from this, the discom, as part of its ongoing capacity augmentation, recently upgraded the capacity of three power transformers from 5 MVA to 12.5 MVA at Alpha 1, Gamma 1 and Sector 37. These upgrades have improved load management and service reliability across Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta sectors, along with Sector 36, Sector 37 and Accher village.In Ghaziabad, there have been daily complaints from Abhay Khand and Gyan Khand in Indirapuram.
