Residents of around 2,000 homes in Ghaziabad’s Kanawani floodplain may soon receive temporary regular electricity connections after the Uttar Pradesh government agreed in principle to allow connections in houses built in the Yamuna-Hindon floodplain area. Local electricity officials said the process will begin only after formal instructions are received.
New electricity connections have not been issued in the Kanawani floodplain for about 12 years because construction in the area is prohibited. During that period, the electricity corporation did not install new poles, lines, substations or transformers. The area had about 250 valid connections at the time, supported by a single transformer.
Construction nevertheless continued, and residents of newer homes began drawing power through informal connections from houses with valid meters. The report also said that some transformers were allegedly installed illegally with local collusion. The existing arrangement has resulted in insufficient voltage, irregular supply and frequent faults. The one authorised transformer in the area reportedly breaks down repeatedly because it does not have enough capacity for the settlement that has grown around it.
The proposed decision could affect more than 10,000 people living in the floodplain. Residents have repeatedly protested over the electricity shortage. Last month, people blocked a road after alleging that valid connections in the area had been disconnected. The possibility of receiving temporary regular connections has since raised expectations that the long-running supply problem could be addressed.
However, issuing connections will require a new electricity distribution plan for the settlement. The area will need high-tension and low-tension lines, additional poles and transformers based on local demand. Electricity officials said planning could take two to three months after formal directions are issued. The report did not specify the total cost, the number of transformers required or the conditions attached to the temporary connections.
The development also highlights the administrative difficulty of providing essential services in settlements located in environmentally restricted or flood-prone areas. For more than a decade, the absence of formal electricity infrastructure has not prevented construction or occupation, but it has left residents dependent on overloaded and unauthorised arrangements. A decision to provide temporary connections would address an immediate utility problem while leaving the legality and long-term status of the buildings as separate questions.
The connection process has already begun in similar areas of Noida, according to the report. Residents of Kanawani began submitting applications through the electricity corporation’s Jhatpat portal about two weeks ago, and more than 400 applications had been filed. The applications, however, have not yet resulted in connections because the local process is awaiting official instructions.
The next steps are the issuance of formal directions, preparation of the distribution plan and assessment of the infrastructure required before connections can be released. Until those steps are completed, residents will continue to depend on the existing network, which officials say lacks the capacity to provide reliable supply.
