Bengaluru running on empty

Bengaluru running on empty
BY AMIT S. UPADHYE
BENGALURU


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The city has been rocked by an unprecedented shortage of power, water and fuel, which has virtually paralysed life in the bustling Silicon Valley of India.

People in the city now seem to be living on a short fuse as power cuts have become the order of the day with the Bescom announcing load-shedding for five to seven hours across Bengaluru.

Petrol bunks have run dry, though oil companies have increased supply by 30 per cent. Thanks to the long hours of power shutdown, water supply has been badly hit as the BWSSB has been unable to pump water from its reservoirs.

Acute power shortage has had a cascading effect. It has affected normal life at home, making life difficult for the elderly and the sick in several areas of the city.

Besides, it has led to generators guzzling diesel by the gallons. Vehicles have been queueing up for diesel forcing petrol bunks to put up “no stock” boards.

The city’s roads that are usually chock-a-block with cabs were conspicuous by their absence on Thursday.

Worse, some BPO employ ees were dropped off midway to their homes, due to shortage of fuel.

With power playing hideand seek, there has been a huge demand for UPS systems. But there is shortage of that as well with traders turning away customers.

To make matters worse, Bescom is now planning to impose a ceiling on use of power in homes and commercial establishments to deal with the short supply.

Senior Bescom officials told this newspaper that the restrictions on use of power would be imposed from the first week of August. “We are working out a strategy to make people use less power so that it can be saved and distributed elsewhere. A normal household of four members requires 150 to 200 units per month, but a large number of houses end up using more than what is required. We are conducting a rapid assessment study to figure out the upper limit for power usage,” Bescom officials said. According to them a normal household requires about 1,000 watts (1 unit of power) of power per day.

But most people opt for the luxury of air-conditioners and water heaters ending up consuming another 1,000 watts a day. “If households or commercial establishments, including factories, exceed the upper limit, they will have to pay a fine. The same system was successfully implemented in Mumbai during the power crisis,” they pointed out.

Bescom has also requested the BBMP to take steps to reduce power consumption. “There are a number of high rise units where lights can be switched off when not in use. And alternate street lights can be utilised on roads which have heavy traffic,” said a Bescom officer.

Mobile phones were jammed due to fluctuations in power.