New Delhi: Long power outages continued to haunt residents of the national capital for the fourteenth consecutive day even as Delhi Government announced that it will take at least ten more days to restore the transmission network damaged by last month's storm. Customers of BSES discoms were the worst affected lot as their areas faced maximum power cuts.
There was no power in some areas of East Delhi for over seven hours while localities in South and West Delhi also reeled under four to five hours of outages. Almost all major power transmission lines were severely damaged in the devastating storm that had struck the city on May 30. The network is yet to be restored. Delhi's Additional Power Secretary Ankur Garg said it will take at least 10 days to restore the transmission network and normalise the supply.
Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal last night visited Maharani Bagh area to take stock of progress of repair work of the Maharani Bagh-Gazipur 220KV line. A number of top officials of Power Ministry and Delhi's power department accompanied him.
Power department officials said long power cuts are taking place in some areas due to local faults in the distribution network of the private distribution companies. “When the power demand goes up, the local network at times trips as it fails to hold the pressure. Some areas are facing power cuts due to local faults,” they said. The localities where Tata Power Delhi Distribution Network supply power are not experiencing power cuts more than an hour.
The officials said the situation today is much better as power demand has come down marginally due to drop in temperature following light rains in the afternoon. The maximum load has come down to 4,561 MW at 4 pm compared to 5,327 MW yesterday.
Meanwhile, Congress held a protest at Khanpur area of South Delhi demanding immediate improvement in power supply. They blocked traffic in the area which caused traffic jams in roads around the area.
“If the Union Power Minister cannot handle the power situation in Delhi, then how can he manage the whole country,” DPCC Chief Spokesperson Mukesh Sharma said.
The discoms have also been directed to immediately replace all their vulnerable or faulty lines.
Giving details of repair of the damaged transmission lines, the officials said the Shalimar Bagh-Wazirpur 220 KV line will be ready by June 16.
They said though the Bawana-Rohini 220 KV line has been restored through Emergency Restoration System (ERS) it will take some more time to repair the damaged towers. Similarly, work on permanent restoration of the Bamnauli-Pappan Kalan 220 KV Line has started though it was made functional through ERS.
The restoration work are underway for restoration of the Dadri-Loni-Harsh Vihar Line (400 KV), Mandola-Gopalpur 220 KV Line, the Maharani Bagh-Ghazipur 220 KV line, Badarpur-Ghazipur line and Maharani Bagh-Trauma Center Line. Officials said certain material are being airlifted from China to repair the Shalimar Bagh-Wazirpur 220 KV cable line. The deadline for restoration of the line is June 16. The work on permanent restoration of the Bawana-Rohini 220 KV line is also underway and it is expected to be over by June 16.
The officials said work on war footing is going on in restoring the Bamnauli-Pappan kalan 220 KV line. Four of the six towers on the line were severely damaged. The repair work is being carried out by Power Grid Corporation through L&T. Repair of the 220 KV Maharani Bagh - Trauma Centre Line is expected to be completed in a day or two.
