Did He Or Didn't He?

On Thursday, Anil Ambani's Reliance Energy claims that it has restored power in all the suburbs, many of which were in darkness for a week. Two days previously, I recieved an SMS from the company, which stated that 98% of power had been restored. Today, this report in The Indian Express:

Satyajeevan Society and Om Nivas Society on LBS Road, Kurla (West) and Asalfa Village in Ghatkopar (West) are among at least 15,000 families in Kurla (W) and Ghatkopar (W), who are Reliance Energy consumers and are reportedly still without power—10 days after they lost it when the rains started on July 26.

"If there are houses still without power, it is due to a local fault which we are attending to on a war footing," Yogendra Vasishta, vice-president, Reliance Energy, said. Residents, though, beg to differ. "We still don’t have power here and people are close to breaking point. And because there’s no power, we can’t even pump water into our houses,’’ says freelance journalist Priyanka Kapoor (19).

After intense pressure from desperate consumers and a much-criticised state administration, Reliance Energy restored power with generators around 1 am on Thursday, but that was short-lived comfort.

Recalls Supriya Sawant (24), a marketing executive with Eureka Forbes:"We got power but it collapsed again at 11 am. How far can you rely on generators?"
Read more here.