The darkness looms high in the broad day light since January 6 this month in HP State capital town Shimla as power supply could not resume despite the State Government claiming of resuming it on war footing basis. Since 1991, Shimla town never found groping in the darkness during the day and bone chilling cold in the night as more than two-third of State capital remained without power, light, water supply, heating system and telecommunications increasing the weather vagaries of people despite various claims of elaborate arrangements on war footing basis by the District, State administration and the Government.
Raj day General Post Office, its local branches, Banks, Insurance companies offices and most of the State and Centre Government establishments were almost paralytic and it could not function normally as all commuters, internet and booking centers or railway, HRTC and hotels were off owing to the longest blackout in the history of this capital town.
Medical services remained fully and partly crippled without power supply, testing facilitates and on-line registration. The biggest suffers were the mobile phone subscribers as they could not charge their phones without power and unable to make contact to their near and dear ones. The power supply was so haphazard that most posh townships were groping in the darkness during the day time.
The Tourism and hotel lift units were out of order for last six days forcing people to venture on the slippery roads and tread through snow. All restaurants, Coffee houses and hotels units could not serve tea and coffee to the tourists and locals in the shivering cold wave as their coffee and tea machines were not working without power. The local residents claimed that the State electricity boards are having under human resources and first catered the VIPs like Ministers and bureaucrats for last three days and ventured the public places on the forth day today.
The Shimla Municipal Corporation Commissioner Mr. Pankaj Rai claimed that it had deployed as many as 170 workers to clear the snow, five snow remover JCBs and two Robots which opened all street roads, path and other link roads to facilitate the commuters as the there was about 87 cm snowfall on some roads.
The Hindustan-Tibet Road is off for vehicular traffic beyond the tourist resort Kufri as there is more than 90 cm thick layer of snow on the road. Most of news paper and agency office could not file their stories due to power black out in the town. Newspaper employees were seen seating outside the fireplaces to brave the cold waves. This capital recorded coldest of this season as night temperature stayed at minus 0.4 degrees and day at three degree Celsius. The power backup of Banks and Post offices could not last for last three days and its services remained cripple in the town.
