Large parts of Uttar Pradesh are reeling under prolonged power cuts as an intense heatwave grips the state, with residents in Maharajganj, Mirzapur, and Basti districts reporting outages of up to 13 to 14 hours a day. Electricity Department officials have attributed the crisis to a surge in equipment faults and acute staff shortages, even as public frustration mounts over the absence of any meaningful official response.

Scale of the Crisis

In Maharajganj, residents described the situation as among the worst in recent memory. One resident alleged that power supply was being cut for 13 to 14 hours daily, with outages frequently extending through the night as well. 'Children are suffering due to extreme heat. Farmers are worried as they are neither able to get diesel nor electricity. How will the pumping sets run? The government has completely failed this time,' the resident said, adding that even the state capital Lucknow was not being spared.

In Mirzapur, residents reported electricity being available for only four to five hours a day, making it difficult to sleep or access cold drinking water. In Basti's Bhuar Niranjanpur village and nearby Mahso Road, erratic supply has forced families to sleep outdoors at night. 'When we go to sleep at night, there is no electricity, so we are forced to sleep outside the house. There is no one to complain to, and no one listens,' a resident said.

What Officials Said

Maharajganj MLA Rishi Tripathi acknowledged the disruptions, citing a spike in faults triggered by extreme heat. 'Due to the intense heat, faults are being reported from many areas. Because of these faults, the power supply has to be interrupted. We are continuously making efforts, and whenever any issue is reported by consumers, engineers from the electricity department are addressing and resolving it,' he said. Officials in Basti separately cited a shortage of field staff as a contributing factor.

Accountability Under Scrutiny

A junior engineer posted in Maharajganj's Sonauli area was served a show-cause notice over alleged negligence — including remaining absent during outages and reportedly failing to respond to calls from the local MLA. The notice signals at least some administrative acknowledgement of the breakdown, though residents say on-ground improvement has yet to follow.

A second resident in Maharajganj warned of a broader public agitation if the situation was not addressed. 'The electricity situation is extremely poor, and the administration seems completely unconcerned. Neither the MLA nor the MP has been able to make any meaningful intervention on this issue. The government is running on a double-engine model, yet traders, farmers and ordinary people are being exploited,' the resident said.

Impact on Agriculture and Livelihoods

The outages are compounding distress beyond mere discomfort. Farmers across affected districts are unable to run irrigation pumping sets at a critical stage of the agricultural calendar, while traders report business losses from erratic supply. This comes amid a broader heatwave that has pushed temperatures to seasonal highs across Uttar Pradesh, leaving the most vulnerable — the elderly, children, and daily-wage workers — with little relief. Notably, this is not the first summer that UP's power infrastructure has buckled under peak-demand pressure; similar complaints surfaced in 2023 and 2024, raising questions about structural underinvestment in the grid.

What Happens Next

Residents across the three districts are demanding urgent government intervention to stabilise supply as temperatures remain elevated. With no formal timeline offered by the Electricity Department for restoring normal supply, and a show-cause notice the only visible accountability measure so far, the pressure on district administration and the state government is expected to intensify in the days ahead.