Power cuts in Hubballi prompt families to check into hotels

Hubballi: After the recent thunderstorms and rain, normalcy has not yet returned to the city, which is home to Hescom headquarters. The situation has exposed a lack of coordination between Hescom, KUIDFC, HDMC and other departments.

Though KUIDFC is supplying water as usual, people are not able to lift it due to prolonged power outages. On Thursday night, water supply resumed in some areas, but they could not lift and store it because of repeated power outages. Though Hescom claims supply is restored, the ground reality is different.

With no water, even for toilets, some well-to-do families, including children, are checking into hotels.

Prof BC Goudar, a resident in Shirur Park I Stage, told TOI that when people complained to HDMC, they said they would remove the tree branch once Hescom removes the fallen cables. “However, Hescom was not reachable -- its officials did not receive calls. Since it was difficult to get water, our grandchild could not sleep in the dark, and without fans and ACs. So we moved to a hotel off Hubballi-Dharwad Road. Like us, 3-4 other families too had shifted there," he said.

Prof Denial Hosakeri of Shivagiri told TOI they stayed in a hotel due to power and water issues. "Water was supplied for the whole night on Sunday, but power was off for almost three days. Our children could not cope with the heat following the rain. We stayed in a hotel for three days and returned home when the power supply resumed," he added.

Requesting anonymity, an entrepreneur from Raghavendra Colony said his family stayed in a hotel for a day before embarking on a tour to Mahabaleshwar in Maharashtra.

Hubballi-Dharwad Central MLA Mahesh Tenginkai said power supply is almost restored. "We convened a meeting of different departments and directed the officials to expedite restoration works. A total of 76 poles were rooted out, and Hescom personnel reinstalled 14 of them on Tuesday and 50 the next day. Many corporators in our constituency are following up with the officials,” he explained.

District minister Santosh Lad was unavailable for comment.