The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Heat, power disruptions make life miserable

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Wednesday, May 06, 2009
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Heat, power disruptions make life miserable

Special Correspondent

A majority areas in Secunderabad goes without power from four to six hours

HYDERABAD: Large-scale power supply disruptions coupled with oppressive heat made life miserable in major parts of the State capital on Tuesday, even as power supply authorities intensified efforts to repair the faulty underground cable at Chilkalguda cross roads.

The power distribution company on Monday declared that a majority of areas in Secunderabad would go without power for spells ranging from four to six hours, but residents complained that the power cuts had far exceeded the announced timings.

Power supply in other areas of Hyderabad was also affected as authorities imposed ‘unofficial cuts’ to evenly distribute the load to other substations. There were complaints of erratic power supply from different areas of Hyderabad too.

For the fourth consecutive day, the temperature hovered around 43 degree C forcing people to remain indoors and their woes doubled with erratic power supply.

GHMC obstacle

Even as people sweat it out, the authorities of the Transco and the GHMC were engaged in a bureaucratic wrangle over digging the road at Chilkalguda cross roads, where the 132 KV underground power supply cable was found to have ‘burnt out’. Exasperated power supply officials were going around the GHMC offices to get an ‘official’ clearance for taking up the digging operations, as lower level corporation officials had stopped the excavation works at least five times at Chilkalguda saying that permission was taken by the power supply officials.

Road cutting

Though the issue of taking up road cutting was taken up at the highest level by both the departments in view of the emergency situation, the green signal did not seem to have percolated down to the ground level officers who obstructed the work, officials said.

“The GHMC special commissioner T. Krishna Babu was told about the immediate necessity to take up the digging and he had accorded permission, but lower level officials were constantly objecting to it. Even though we have a written request seeking permission, there is no official available to take it at the head office.

Little do they realise that people are suffering because of erratic power supply’, a CPDCL official complained bitterly.

On the other hand, the GHMC officials were too engrossed in touring Bholakpur and surrounding areas affected by supply of contaminated water leading to widespread protests by people.

Officials said they managed to zero in on the faulty underground cable at Chilkalguda cross roads. Soil excavation had begun and once the burnt out cable part is isolated, they would have to examine to what length the cable got damaged. They would have to cut the cable and reconnect it using the spare cable available in the stores. As to the reason why the cable got ‘burnt out’, officials opined that it could be due to ‘aging process’ as it was laid more than a decade ago.

“We do not know whether the high ambient temperature led to the burning or was it due to aging. The damage occurred near a joint’, a Transco official explained.

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