Dehradun: The scorching summer heat has led to severe water scarcity and frequent power cuts in various parts of Dehradun, making daily life difficult for residents even as officials continue to claim that no major problems exist.“Irrespective of what officials say, we are having regular power outages that last well over an hour or two. On Wednesday afternoon itself, we had four major outages across the entire locality every couple of hours,” said DD Arora, a resident of Rajendra Nagar area.Residents in areas such as Dehrakhas, Kargi Chowk, parts of Transport Nagar, and Mothrowala claimed that power outages last for more than 3-4 hours, putting a significant strain on their power backup systems, which are failing due to the extreme heat. Representatives from the Saraswati Vihar Development Committee, which includes areas like Ganesh Vihar, Bahuguna Colony and Ajabpur, met with the local MLA on Tuesday to express their concerns about the frequent power cuts. The lack of electricity has also exacerbated water supply issues in the capital.“Earlier, the water supply would come at 6 am. Now it’s coming at 5 am for barely 15 minutes. While electricity issues started in the last week, water woes have been going on for more than two months. If the situation gets worse, we will be unable to carry out routine chores. The electric load is high due to high temperatures but water supply issues are an annual occurrence. Why can’t we have a more proactive approach to tackle this?” said Dushyant Sharma, a resident.The problems persist even in areas at higher altitudes, such as those along Kaulagarh road and Sahastradhara road. Uttarakhand Jal Sansthan officials said that the city’s current demand is around 195 MLD per day, while the supply during summer months drops to 170 MLD. However, they claim that most supply issues are due to infrastructural maintenance-related problems. Amidst this, private tankers in the city have been prohibited from refilling at the Parade Ground water tank, contributing to water woes in the city centre.The ongoing maintenance at the Chilla power house, which primarily supplies to Haridwar, has increased the load on the Rishikesh centre, resulting in a reduced supply to Dehradun, where the demand is around 500 MW. “The power house should be done with the maintenance in the next 5-6 days which will help relieve pressure here. Due to the high temperatures, the load has increased by almost 15-20%,” said Rahul Jain, superintending engineer, Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited.Officials added that a problem in the transmission line of one of the Bindal river sources has led to a reduced supply from the other line. A source claimed that the demand in the last three days has been higher than past 15 days and is expected to go up in the coming weeks until the monsoon season starts.