Residents of Haldwani in Uttarakhand are being urged to prepare for significant disruptions to their daily routines as the state energy board has announced a comprehensive maintenance schedule leading up to the festival of Diwali. To ensure a robust and reliable power supply during the peak festive season, authorities have mandated scheduled outages from October 14 to October 30. During this period, electricity supply in various localities will be suspended daily between 9:00 AM and 2:00 PM to facilitate essential repairs on power lines and feeders. This proactive measure is designed to prevent unexpected failures during the festivities, requiring residents to plan their critical household and commercial activities around these specific time slots.
The maintenance agenda is extensive, targeting specific neighborhoods on designated dates to minimize widespread inconvenience. The schedule begins on October 14 with outages in Rajpura and Tikonia, followed by Bareri-Rampur Road, Nainital-Kala Dhungi Road, and Gandhi Nagar on October 15. Subsequent days include disruptions in St. Paul and Danibangar (October 16), Tikonia and Gola Par (October 17), Gaitri Nagar and Kala Dhungi (October 21), Kala Dhungi and Naya Awas Vikas (October 22), MES, Coltax, Donheria, and Hydil (October 23), and finally Nalkoop, Danibangar, Kali Chowd, and Stadium areas on October 24. Executive Engineer Pradeep Kumar emphasized that consumers are being informed in advance about these schedules, and any issues or extended outages can be reported via the toll-free helpline number 1912.
Beyond routine maintenance, the energy board is executing a high-stakes anti-theft initiative in the Vanbulpura region, allocating approximately 300 million rupees to secure the power grid. This strategic investment involves the installation of 350 kilometers of armored cables running from power poles to individual meters. The primary objective of this infrastructure upgrade is to eliminate power theft, a persistent challenge that has strained resources in the region. The armored cables, featuring a metal security covering, are significantly harder to tamper with, thereby ensuring that the electricity distributed reaches the intended consumers without loss.
The urgency of this security measure was highlighted by a recent inspection drive conducted over the weekend by seven team members of the energy board. During this operation, authorities uncovered power theft in 108 households. Investigators found evidence of deliberate tampering, including cut power lines and manipulated meters, which have been a source of significant financial loss and grid instability. In addition to the armored cabling, the board is planning to install smart meters outside homes in the affected areas. These smart meters will provide real-time monitoring capabilities, further deterring unauthorized access and ensuring transparency in power consumption. The tender process for the armor cable installation has already been completed, signaling an imminent rollout of these security-enhanced infrastructure upgrades.
