Kakor Gahana Mohalla, within the Devchandpur Ward of Uttar Pradesh’s Jaunpur district, has come under public scrutiny in recent times, no, not for run-of-the-mill civic issues, but for routine power outages that have had a deep impact on daily life. The constant malfunction of equipment of the area’s single transformer has led to huge distress among the residents, particularly over the last six months.
The frequent power cuts, combined with scorching summer temperatures, have caused a peculiar social crisis. Some women from the area have decided to desert their matrimonial homes, dictating a precise condition for their return: a reliable and continuous supply of electricity. This bizarre protest has rocked household life and sharpened community tensions.
Daily Arguments, Suffocating Heat
One of the most discussed cases is that of Shashi Maurya’s wife, Ranju Devi. She quit her husband’s residence and went back to her parents in Sungulpur Madiyahun. Councillor Maurya openly confessed, “Daily arguments about the power shortage and suffocating heat led to her departure.”
In a similar case, two years-married Raj Kumar said his wife recently left home, vowing she wouldn’t return until electricity was restored on a proper basis. “She told distinctly she will return only when the electricity problem is solved,” he said.
At the core of the problem is a malfunctioning 100 KV transformer, repeatedly collapsing due to the weight of overload. Electricity in the region is supplied through the Devkali sub-centre under Sarai Khwaja. Despite several complaints made to authorities and even letters written to the Minister of State Girish Chandra Yadav, no long-term solution has been reached yet.
This issue is exacerbated, according to the staff in the electricity department, by an ongoing fault in one of the transformer’s phases. Despite numerous repairs having been made, relief comes only to last briefly as the transformer will soon burn out afterward.
What started as an infrastructural issue has now turned into a full-blown social issue. Power shortages are no longer merely a nuisance—they are tearing marriages apart, breaking up families, and growing public ire. Unless something is done immediately, this power crisis can continue to fray the social fabric of the community.
