Pune Power Cuts

My letter published in the newspaper Sakal Herald dated 29th Sep 2006.
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“MSEB or whatever it is known as these days issues these expensive ads every week announcing that it will switch off power for several hours every Thursday for so called “maintenance activities”. Puneites also
seem to have accepted these Thursday cuts as a fact of life. No resistance either from the people or the people’s representatives.

I fail to understand how essential services can be switched off in this fashion. Informing people by spending our own money on ads cannot justify the inefficiency and incompetence inherent to these cuts.

In most developed countries the power never fails for years together. Even in the pre-load shedding days, power in India was not switched off for weeks on end. So it’s definitely not true that maintenance cannot be done without having to switch off the power supply.

Why is there no resistance from our elected representatives whose primary task is to take up such issues?

The only Puneites benefiting from these cuts are UPS vendors, as these cuts ensure that the UPS and generator business works all year round.

My request to MSEB “Please stop wasting our money on ads. You can switch off the lights at any time you wish. Be assured that we Puneites will not resist.”