Large parts of Uttar Pradesh were shrouded in darkness on Wednesday, plunging lakhs of homes in several cities, including Lucknow, Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Noida, Mathura and Meerut in darkness for hours and forcing thousands of angry consumers to protest outside sub-stations.
Power connections of lakhs of domestic consumers were snapped with the smart meters installed in them displaying ‘disconnection due to non-payment of monthly arrears’. This happened despite the fact that many domestic consumers said they had cleared bills. According to officials, the smart meters were “inadvertently disconnected” due to some technical error.
