Precarious power situation leaves those on oxygen on tenterhooks

Intermittent power supply has led to people appealing to Bescom and sending out SOS messages on Twitter

The power supply in Karnataka, more so in capital Bengaluru, has been constant fodder for humour; its unreliability inspiring memes and witty one-liners. This increased last year when lakhs of employees were forced to work from home and were at their wits end whenever there were unscheduled power outages. But now, it’s more than just a minor inconvenience. With the State government admitting that a ferocious second wave of COVID-19 has seen an unprecedented number of people dependent on oxygen, intermittent power supply has led to people appealing to Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (Bescom) and sending out SOS messages on Twitter. On Tuesday, a resident tweeted that while he experienced power failure at 6 p.m., he was able to connect to customer care only by 4 a.m. on Wednesday. “It is pathetic. Bescom should understand that there are many homes which may need power for medical support reasons during covid,” he tweeted.