LUCKNOW, May 21 -- Repeated late-night outages, delayed fault repairs and growing public protests across several Lucknow localities have exposed an alleged manpower crisis in the city's power distribution system following the implementation of the new 'vertical system,' under which nearly 300 contractual workers were reportedly removed or sidelined.

The restructuring of the electricity distribution network has allegedly weakened the emergency response mechanism of Lucknow Electricity Supply Administration (LESA) at a time when power demand is soaring during peak summer.

According to Devendra Pandey, general secretary of the Uttar Pradesh Samvida Nivida Karmchari Sangh, the impact is most visible during night hours when multiple faults o...