Patiala, April 23 -- The Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) announced scheduled power cuts ranging from 8 to 10 hours daily across several major cities between April 21 and 26 as part of a drive to modernise the state's electricity distribution network. The maintenance work will impact residential, commercial, and industrial hubs in several areas, including Patiala, Amritsar, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Mohali and Bathinda, said the public notice issued by the PSPCL on Tuesday. "Punjab State Power Corporation Limited has launched a campaign to improve and modernise the electricity distribution system. To carry out this work, the power supply in various areas will remain suspended," the PSPCL notification said while releasing the schedule. According to an official spokesperson, these measures are 'pre-emptive steps' taken to ensure a seamless power supply during the upcoming peak summer season. Power minister Sanjeev Arora, who is currently in the Netherlands along with chief minister Bhagwant Mann, said the planned outages aim to improve power supply through system upgrades. "The inconvenience caused is regretted, but these improvements will greatly benefit consumers in the long run," Arora said in a post on X. The scheduled power outages come at a time when maximum temperatures are hovering around 38 to 40degC in the state, and the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Monday had issued a yellow alert warning of heatwave conditions over the next five days. The heatwave conditions are announced when the maximum temperature of a station reaches at least 40degC or more. On Wednesday, Faridkot was hottest in the state at 42.9degC, followed by Bathinda at 42.8degC and Patiala at 40.4degC. The state's peak power demand on Wednesday touched 10,105 MW. PSPCL chairman-cum-managing director Basant Garg said that the work had already been ongoing since December last year but had to be expedited in view of the upcoming peak summer and paddy season, when power demand is likely to cross 17,000 MW. "A review has already been ordered regarding the duration of the power cuts. After receiving feedback, we are planning to reduce the duration to 4-5 hours a day," he said. A PSPCL spokesperson said that the 'modernisation' projects worth Rs.5,000 crore involve shifting overhead cables, upgrading transformer capacities, and integrating smarter distribution technology. Power experts, including the joint action committee of engineers, employees and pensioners of PSPCL, expressed concern over the timing of the maintenance work. "Carrying out maintenance of the power distribution system during peak summer defies logic. Instead of executing the work in phases, one district at a time, the PSPCL has imposed cuts across all major districts simultaneously," said VK Gupta, media adviser of the All India Power Engineers' Federation....