Tech City no 'ElectriCity': Power fails after one shower

Sowmya Raju | NT

Bengaluru: Despite having more than 100 days to prepare for the monsoon rains, the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (Bescom) seemed totally unprepared when heavy showers, accompanied by a thunderstorm and gusty winds, pounded many parts of the city Monday evening, resulting in over 50 trees falling and 33 roads getting heavily waterlogged.

With waterlogging and traffic congestion hitting several parts of the city, most residents who were confined indoors, faced the impact of Bescom's unpreparedness for the rains, enduring power cuts for several hours.

For some, the power cuts extended for 8 to 10 hours from Monday night till Tuesday afternoon.

Bescom's toll-free contact number, 1912, was overwhelmed with complaints from residents across the city with some complaining that the helpline was shut down.

Expressing their frustration, residents shared how the long power cuts disrupted their routine activity. One resident from Indira Nagar, who has a 3-year-old daughter, said, "We did not have power for 6 to 7 hours in the night, and my daughter did not sleep at all. She was crying all night, and I had to go to work the next day with no sleep."

A techie from SG Palya had no choice but to walk to the nearby mall in his shorts carrying his laptop to attend his morning team call!

Several other workfrom-home employees were seen operating from malls and coffee shops Tuesday morning owing to the lack of power in their residences.

Shyamala James, a resident wondered what would happen when the actual monsoon season sets in if If there are no proper arrangements even for small rains?

"Despite the city experiencing only 19.5 mm rainfall on Monday - far less than what it normally faces during the regular monsoon, the infrastructure could hardly cope with it,'' she lamented.

There were also multiple reports of wires hanging loose, and over 50 trees falling in the rain.