Thanks to the awareness campaigns run by agencies, power outages due to kite flying has gradually reduced in the Capital.
Since 2007, cases of line tripping due to kite flying on Independence Day have reduced by almost 93 per cent.
“The numbers have been fluctuating, but overall, there has been a declining trend,” said a senior official of the Delhi Transco Limited (DTL).
Records with the Delhi Transco Limited suggest that in 2007 there were as many as 259 cases of local faults on August 15, which came down to 18 on the same day last year.
“It has been observed that during the Monsoon, specifically around Independence Day, a large number of people fly kites close to over-head power network, which cause disruption in smooth supply of electricity,” the official said.
The situation gets aggravated when people use metal-coated manja in kites to make them unbreakable. “When such metal-coated manja comes in contact with the live wire it not only causes tripping, but also has the possibility of causing serious injuries or electrocution to the kite flyers,” said an official of the Power Department.
Power utilities have advised people not to fly kites near high-tension lines.
“The extra high voltage transmission lines are a corridor to transmit bulk power to feed larger areas. Whenever there is a tripping in such high voltage transmission lines it runs the risk of long outage, which may affect a lot of areas simultaneously,” the official said.
Since 2007, cases of line tripping due to kite flying on I-Day have reduced by almost 93 per cent
