Ara reels under power crisis

Ara: Some things never change. And, among them is the poor power situation in Ara. Frequent and long power cuts are a rule rather than an exception in the town. Power plays truant in Ara on one pretext or the other. This time it is replacement of a transformer of feeder number 4 of the Japani farm sub-power station.
Since Saturday, most of the areas in Ara town are facing long power cuts.Ravi Kumar, a Class XII student of Maharaja College, who lives at Bind Toli, said his area was getting power only for four to five hours a day since Saturday afternoon. “We are facing problems of drinking water due to power cuts. Our mobile phones and laptops get discharged frequently due to power outages.”
Sakshi, a Class VI student, who lives at the DT Road area, could not get drinking water when she returned from school on Tuesday afternoon. Her mother, Sita, a housewife, said she had stored drinking water in the morning, but couldn’t replenish it due to power cut. Only last month, angry power consumers had blocked roads at many places in Ara to protest against poor power supply in the town.
The officials of South Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited hope that the power situation will improve from Wednesday, as a new 10 MVA transformer is being installed at the Japani farm substation on Tuesday. Executive engineer Raj Kumar Singh told media that engineers had reached Ara to replace the transformer which had developed some snag on Saturday afternoon.