A year on, Panchavati residents still shudder at the memory of last July’s 19-hour power outage after a tree toppled and snapped electricity cables amid heavy rain. Now, even a drizzle sparks anxiety, reviving fears of another prolonged blackout.Home to 5,000-odd residents across 22 societies, Panchavati’s monsoon bliss comes with a caveat: Strong winds capable of uprooting trees. But every problem has a solution, or so the residents thought when they approached the state power utility in Dec 2023 with a plea to move the overhead power cables underground.“There was a lot of back and forth with MSEDCL officials as they told us to raise funds for the work. It was only when then collector Suhas Divase intervened that MSEDCL awarded the contract for laying the underground cables with a budgetary allocation in Sept 2024,” said YS Gour, chairman of Panchavati Utkarsh Seva Sanstha Pune (PUSSP).Residents, about half of whom are senior citizens, face significant disruptions when power cuts occur. The outage throws off scheduled water pumping rotation among societies, causing inconvenience. Additionally, the lack of streetlighting increases the risk of accidents, they said.Gour said the residents’ association was resolute in resolving the issue before the onset of this year’s monsoon. “Exactly a year ago, a tree fell amid heavy showers, snapping overhead cables and leaving us without electricity for 19 hours. This caused considerable hardship for senior citizens here,” he recounted.MSEDCL applied to PMC’s road department last Dec, seeking permission to lay underground cables. Despite submitting an amended application on Jan 8 this year, the request remains pending seven months later, leaving residents in limbo as they chase updates from the civic officials.“When we followed up with PMC in Feb, we found that no progress had been made on our permission request. We then met with the PMC superintendent engineer, who conducted a site survey on March 3. Subsequently, we met PMC city engineer Prashant Waghmare twice, once in Panchavati on March 24 and again in his office on March 27,” Gour said.The residents also met with chief engineer Aniruddha Pawaskar, in-charge of the road department, and highlighted the urgency of the situation. When there was no progress even after two weeks, they followed up with the superintendent engineer, who had surveyed the area on April 7. They requested him to seek clarifications from MSEDCL to expedite the permission process. The official sent a letter to MSEDCL on April 11. The residents, citing letters in their possession, said MSEDCL responded on April 22 and sent a reminder on May 2.“We were extremely frustrated by this point, racing against the clock to get the permission and work started before the monsoon. Since PMC typically halts road digging work around May 31, every day counted,” Pradeep Ghumare, a Panchavati resident and committee member of PUSSP, said.The residents frequently checked on their file’s status at the PMC office in May. After finding MSEDCL letters, dated April 22 and May 2, missing on May 8, they resubmitted copies. The file was marked ‘for discussion’ on May 15 and then sent to the additional commissioner for advice on May 29. “The delays were unnecessary, especially since we had met with PMC officials many times and everything was in order. If something was missing, they could have informed us then. Despite our efforts, our request remains unfulfilled,” Ghumare told TOI.As expected, when Panchavati faced heavy showers on June 13, a tree fell and snapped an overhead cable, after which the locality lost power from 5.15am to 2.30pm. A similar incident took place on June 19 and yet again, there was no power from 11am to 2:30am the next day.“We’ve been constantly following up with PMC for digging permission because whenever a tree falls, the power goes out for a long time, affecting senior citizens, institutions and people working from home,” said Stella Samuel, PUSSP secretary.She said, “Not everyone has an inverter and even for those who do, it lasts four hours at best. We have two 12-storey buildings in the locality and maids and senior citizens find it difficult to manage without functioning lifts.”PUSSP members have also been pushing hard for the permission since 24×7 water-pipeline work is already under way in the area and they want to get all road works done and then resurfaced in one-go to avoid them being dug up again.“I have been living in Panchavati for 25 years and 50% of residents here are senior citizens. During power outages, life comes to a standstill. The problem is that one cannot predict when a tree will fall and snap a power cable, Joe Dsouza, retired educator and resdient of the area said. An MSEDCL official, who has been working on the case, said an application was submitted to PMC for road digging permission in Dec last year. “The civic body has not given the permission yet and now the monsoon is going on, so digging is not permitted. We are waiting for a nod to go ahead with work,” the official said.“The sanction should be granted within a month and they should be able to start work post-monsoon. We had cleared the file early on, but we needed additional clarity from MSEDCL, so the process took some time. It should be approved soon. I will look into it myself and ensure that it is done,” Dilip Kale, deputy engineer of PMC’s road department and official in-charge of Panchavati area told TOI.
