BENGALURU : Recurring power disruption in Indiranagar I and II Stages, with a massive 14-hour outage earlier this week, left residents in dismay. The bigger fear is that such power cuts will put the lives of patients, who depend on oxygen concentrators, at risk. Dr N V S Krishnan, a paediatrician who lives on 1st Main Road, was among those affected.
“Power supply, which went off at 4.30 pm on Wednesday, was restored to some extent on Thursday and completely at 11 am on Friday. By then, the ice for the vaccines I had stored to be administered to children had melted,” he told The New Indian Express.
He also knew two patients who were using oxygen concentrators and had suffered due to the power disruption. “I called up the Bescom helpline 1912 at least 40 times. Clubbing it with a Covid helpline has ruined it as there were only automated responses. Reaching out through WhatsApp and email did not help,” he said. There is a transformer on the road which turns dysfunctional even at the slightest shower, and a long-term solution is needed, Dr Krishnan said.
Aga Sultan, a consulting engineer, pointed out that with the rise in Covid cases, every third or fourth house may require an oxygen concentrator. “What happens if power goes off for hours like this? This is alarming and requires urgent redressal,” Sultan said.
Assistant Executive Engineer, E-6, Manjunath said the problem occurred after the Bescom line got damaged at four places due to BBMP TenderSURE work as well as OFC cable work done by Reliance Jio on Old Madras Road, CMH Road, 100-ft Road and opposite ESI Hospital. “We have rectified the problem for now,” he said. BBMP Executive Engineer Geetha claimed that their white-topping work had no connection with Bescom and hung up abruptly. Reliance Jio could not be reached.
BESCOM linemen down with Covid too
While some of the residents were sympathetic that Bescom was working on skeletal staff, as numerous linemen are down with Covid, others were concerned about the old electrical infrastructure. Assistant Executive Engineer Manjunath said that six out of 14 linemen and two engineers in-charge of the area were infected with Covid, and they were doing their best to help the residents.