New Delhi: Firefighters douse a fire which broke out at an eye hospital, in Lajpat Nagar, New Delhi, Wednesday, June 5, 2024.

(Photo: PTI)4 min read Last Updated : Jun 17 2024 | 3:58 PM IST Several parts of Delhi have been reeling from a double whammy of high temperatures and increasing power outages this year.

On Monday, CNBC-TV18 reported an outage at the Delhi Airport which impacted the boarding and check-in facilities.

In the last few days, hundreds of posts have been put out on social media platform X, tagging the official handle of BSES Delhi and complaining about the power outages.

Many people also complained of low voltage, impacting the functioning of air conditioners and other electrical appliances. A user by the handle @aamirsaleem316 said, "@bsesdelhi on the festival days now there is power outage since last one hour.

Delhi seems to be going in the dark ages.

Soon govt will see this in election @ArvindKejriwal @AamAadmiParty." Another user, @sayeed2u, wrote, "When there is severe heat or festival, the arbitrariness of the electricity department is at its peak, the situation was the same at night.

Since morning there is no electricity not once but more than 3 times for hours, but there is no responsibility anywhere." At the same time, Delhi has been reporting an unprecedented number of fire incidents.

On Sunday, a massive fire broke out in an LED light manufacturing factory in Mundka.

Last week, a fire broke out in Chandni Chowk's Old Katra Marwadi Market, which destroyed over 200 shops, causing loss worth crores. These are just a few examples of such incidents.

This year, by June 12, the national capital has reported over 339 cases of fires.

In the whole of 2023, the number of such cases was 553.

According to Delhi Fire Services, on May 29, it received over 200 calls and 183 out of these were fire-related.

It was the highest in the year so far. These incidents have also cost lives.

According to the official data, at least 55 people have died and over 300 injured in fire-related incidents in Delhi this year.What's causing power outages and fires in Delhi? According to media reports citing officials, the major reason for power outages this year is the high power demand and the resulting overload on grids.

This overload is impacting the transformers and even causing short circuits.

These short circuits, in turn, are the main reason for the high number of fire incidents in the capital. But there seems to be a vicious cycle.

The demand has been high owing to a hotter-than-normal summer in the national capital this year.

In May, Delhi's peak power demand clocked 8,000MW.

This came when the city's maximum temperature was around 50 degrees Celsius.

And the city has shown no signs of cooling down. On Sunday, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued a severe heatwave alert in Delhi, elevating its warning to a "red" alert from the previously issued "orange" alert.

Delhi recorded a maximum temperature of 44.9 degrees Celsius, six degrees above normal.

The IMD has also predicted that the heatwave might continue for some days.

For Monday and Tuesday, it has issued "orange" and "yellow" alerts respectively. Apart from this, there are other factors leading to short circuits.

These include poorly maintained equipment, loose connections and faulty wiring.Respite soon? To fight the rising temperature, doctors have suggested that people must stay hydrated and avoid going out unless completely necessary.

The IMD has predicted that Delhi might see light rains on Thursday and Friday, which might bring the maximum temperature down.

But until then, Delhiites would need to fight the sun with water, sunglasses and tripping ACs. "No amount of water I drink seems enough," said 13-year-old Kartik in the Delhi metro, who had gone to Connaught Place with his mother.

"But that is the only respite right now." "I hope it rains soon," said Kamlesh Kumar, a 61-year-old resident of Karol Bagh, riding on the same metro.First Published: Jun 17 2024 | 3:45 PMIST