Panjab Faces Heat Wave; Arora Under Scanner Over Sale of Phones to PSPCL

May

2026

Panjab is facing an unrelenting heatwave. Surging electricity demand in Panjab has plunged several rural and suburban pockets of the state into prolonged power outages, exposing the mounting strain on the state’s power infrastructure and leaving residents grappling with sleepless nights, disrupted water supply and erratic voltage fluctuations. However, in 2026, under its curtailed power banking system, Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board Limited (HPSEBL) will not be able to supply power to Panjab and Haryana. In previous years HPSEBL stored around 1.8K million units (MU), but in 2026 it is planning to store only around 400 MU. HPSEBL’s quantum of electricity for banking arrangement has fallen substantially as the state government has taken away around 2K MU of equity power which it plans to sell in the open market. Meanwhile, the Punjab Vigilance Bureau, Economic Offences Wing, Ludhiana, arrested KD Chaudhry, the former Chairman and Managing Director (2011–2015), Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) along with the Sub-Divisional Officer Sanjeev Prabhakar and Ludhiana-based builder Amit Garg on 20 May. They were arrested after a vigilance inquiry found that they had installed a 66 KV sub-station by using USD 1M of government funds in the private housing colony in Ludhiana. Additionally, new revelations regarding the purchase of 15,600 mobile phones by PSPCL in two tranches totaling USD 3.5M linked to Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) former Rajya Sabha (Upper House of Parliament) and former Panjab minister Arora, who is in judicial custody, are now being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The handsets were purchased for linemen, but several PSPCL employees' unions said they had never raised a demand for any mobile phones. Each phone was worth USD 229 when the market rate was USD 183. A senior PSPCL officer said, 'The differential cost of over USD 40 may be because the provider has to install a mobile device management system.’ On 23 May, Panjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal made an unannounced visit to the Bhondsi jail in Gurugram to meet Arora (earlier coverage).