Gurgaon: Haryana power minister Anil Vij on Saturday directed discoms to ensure outages in urban areas do not exceed two hours at a time and four hours in rural areas. Failure to meet the instructions will attract strict punishment, he said, adding that superintending engineers will be held accountable and may be suspended in serious cases.Vij was chairing a review meeting of senior energy department officials when he gave the directive. Frequent summer outages have been reported in Haryana, where power cuts often stretch for hours despite adequate supply at the grid level.Citing poor maintenance and faulty equipment as key reasons for disruptions during peak load, Vij stressed the need for quick transformer replacement. “Maintenance staff must be equipped with proper tools, safety gear and transformer trolleys during repair work. All necessary safety equipment will be provided within two days,” he said.He also directed that new substations should not be set up in waterlogged areas; if unavoidable, they must be built at least 2 feet above expected water levels with mandatory NOCs. Substation maintenance and upgrades were discussed during the meeting and emphasis was laid on completing tree pruning near power lines before the monsoon to prevent storm-related disruptions.Vij said the aim is to position Haryana as a leader in the energy sector while ensuring uninterrupted, quality power supply. He added that awards will be given to top-performing circles for implementing solar systems in govt buildings and the PM Surya Ghar scheme.On power theft, the minister ordered all pending cases to be presented in court within three months. He said 179 people have been arrested this year, with 39,529 FIRs registered in 2024-25 and 56,953 FIRs were registered in 2025-26.He further ordered action in cases where consumers with pending dues obtained new connections on the same property. Under Rule-8, officials responsible for overseeing the crime will face charges. A total of 3,224 such cases have been identified and three-member teams have been asked to resolve them within three months.
