Growing Complaints of Frequent Power Cuts Disrupt IT Corridor in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: As the summer grinds on, the number of complaints regarding short yet multiple power cuts during the day, especially in IT corridor, has been growing.

According to residents and those in the work-from-home mode, the power cuts last not longer than 10-15 minutes, but their frequency has gone up. Irked residents complain that the power cuts have been causing them grave trouble, especially on a working days.

"Since we haven't resumed work from offices completely, our hybrid model is disrupted due the short power cuts, which takes place at least five times a day,” said Kavya G, a software engineer. “The internet goes off and takes some time for the router to get working. Waiting for this to happen several times in a day makes me sound silly to my employers."

Saif Ansari, an IT employee, said that several attempts to reach the authorities went in vain. "When we questioned them, we were given options to use an inverter battery or solar power. Such responses are nothing but the height of laziness,” Ansari said,

“Working from home has become cumbersome. We need to run simulations that require heavy wattage that regular home inverters don’t provide for a long time. When I reached our line man, he said there was an issue with a transformer, but how can that be the reason every single time," Ansari asked.

While officials said that the reason for power cuts could be maintenance works, many consumers asked why they don't receive notifications about the same on their registered phone number.

"We need to be informed about the outage at least a couple of hours in advance. This is the least that can be done. The infrastructure seems to be outdated and needs quick fixing," said B.V. Vallabh.

Some residents of Madhapur, led by Ansari, who connected over social media, have now resolved to take the issue up with higher-ups and propose changes and solutions for the same.  

Many stay in apartments that do not have instant power back-up. "The sudden power cuts have ruined my A/C compressor (dual inverter)," complained one resident while another said their microwave, TV and desktop took a bit due to non-stabilisation.

"Not to forget  the number hours of simulation runtime wasted on my workstation. So tens of thousands of loss from my pocket alone. Imagine the losses city-wise," Ansari said.

Neither the divisional nor the assistant divisional engineer of Gachibowli and Kondapur areas could be reached for comment.