Frequent power cuts in Hyderabad irk residents

Hyderabad: Frequent power cuts in the past five days for two hours a day have turned out be a latest regular problem in Hyderabad. The situation is more troublesome for people who are working from home and patients isolated at home.

Sharing about the issues due to repeated power cuts, K Sravanthi of Mettuguda said: "We are unable to utilise the work-from-home option due to the repeated snapping of electricity in our area. For at least two hours the shutdown is happening regularly since five days. Even if we call the toll-free complaint number, they abruptly cut it or put us on hold and forget that we are waiting. We are disappointed with the cuts."

Complaining about FOC customer service, G Jeethin Kumar of Ayyappa Society said, "the toll-free dialing number for FOC (fuse off calls) is always busy or kept on hold for a long time. Forced to cut the call, we are not even able to complain about the situation as FOC is always busy."

On other hand, Covid patients, with oxygen concentrators at home, are forced to shift to hospitals. "We have bought an oxygen concentrator for my uncle as he has suffers from breathlessness. As Covid wards are full, we have arranged the facility at home, but we are worried due to power cuts," said Billahari of Manikonda.

"Though we have a generator it doesn't work for longer hours. Sometimes the power cut is so long that it is off from morning to evening for no proper reason. We had to take leave for the day and face loss of pay. We are seriously planning to relocate from the area only for this only particular reason, said Venkatramana of Keshav Nagar Colony.

"We are receiving at least 300 FOC calls every day. We are trying to sort out the issue of every call and trying to fix power supply issues as much as possible," said Rama Chary, Assistant Engineer (electrical), GHMC.