Lucknow, June 3 -- A major technical glitch brought the toll-free power helpline, 1912, of Madhyanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited (MVVNL) to a halt for nearly five hours on Sunday, crippling consumer grievance redressal in 19 districts, including Lucknow, Ayodhya, and Barabanki. The disruption left many users unable to register complaints regarding power cuts, low voltage, transformer failures, and other issues. The helpline, which typically receives 15,000 to 20,000 calls daily, remained inaccessible from around 8 am to 1 pm on Sunday. According to MVVNL officials, the fault originated in a telecom network on which the helpline system relies entirely. The lack of contingency planning for telecom disruptions has raised eyebrows among both officials and the public. MVVNL's call centre serves as a key link between consumers and electricity substations, forwarding complaints for quick resolution. The outage paralysed this crucial function, affecting urban and rural areas alike. In Lucknow, several localities-including Mohanlalganj, Nadarganj, Nigohan, Sarojininagar, Dubagga, BKT, Itauja, Chinhat, and Gomtinagar-saw complaint services collapse during peak morning hours. "We were unable to register consumer complaints due to a technical issue from the telecom company's end," confirmed Yogesh Kumar, MVVNL director (Commercial). MVVNL managing director Riya Kejriwal did not respond to repeated calls regarding the matter. Internal sources suggest that even after services resumed, complaint backlogs and system sluggishness continued to hamper response efforts. "The situation exposes deeper flaws in infrastructure planning. A single-point failure should not be enough to bring down a public-facing utility service, but the MD remains inaccessible." said a senior official requesting anonymity. At the 1912 Customer Care Centre in Lucknow's Hussainganj - where all consumer calls are received - operations are handled by outsourced staff from Rama Infotech, who work in three shifts. Currently, 120 personnel are deployed there round the clock to attend incoming calls, while an additional 10 staff members are assigned to follow up with consumers, either to confirm complaint resolution or to inform them about the expected time for redressal, according to a senior official at the centre....