A reckless late-night drive turned into a major civic emergency on Kakowal Road after a speeding car rammed into the electricity infrastructure, snapping poles and cables and plunging the entire area into darkness for around 12 hours.
The accident occurred around 12 midnight, when a sedan, reportedly moving at high speed, lost control and crashed into electricity poles lining the road, damaging power poles and snapping four LT cables which fell onto the road, leaving live wires dangerously exposed and triggering panic among residents.
Though power officials managed the situation temporarily during the night by regulating and diverting supply to prevent further hazards, a complete outage hit the entire area again in the morning around 8 am, leaving homes and businesses without electricity for hours. Power supply, officials said, was restored around 7:45 pm.
This was extremely frightening, said Sourav, a resident. The sound was so loud that people rushed out of their houses. Broken wires were lying on the road. Even stepping outside felt risky.
The affected area falls under the Sundar Nagar division of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL). Emergency teams reached the spot soon after the crash and worked through the night to isolate the damaged section and manage the outage.
We spent the entire night without proper electricity, said Ritika, another resident. In the morning, the power went off completely again. Children, elderly people, and everyone are suffering. This shows how dangerous overspeeding can be.
Confirming the incident, Khushvendra Sood Singh, sub-divisional officer (SDO), said the crash caused extensive damage to the power network. Three poles were damaged, and four cables broke and fell onto the road. The supply of the entire area has been affected. Our teams managed the outage during the night, but full restoration work is underway, and supply is expected to resume soon, he had said.
Residents say such incidents are not isolated. Overspeeding on this road is a daily problem, said Arvind, a local shopkeeper. Today it damaged poles and cables, tomorrow it could cost lives. Authorities must take strict action before something worse happens.
