For a second time in two years, the 132KV underground cable line from Moulali to Chilkalguda was punctured due to the road digging operations by the Hyderabad Metro Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) in the small hours of Monday.
The shovel of the earth moving machine used by the water board contractor hit the vital power supply line on the Chilkalguda-Tarnaka stretch at about 3.30 a.m. on Monday morning, resulting in a brief interruption in power supply.
The excavator operator did not suffer any shock as power tripped within milli-seconds of the shovel hitting the cable, authorities explained.
While the power supply was restored within 20 minutes, the stalled water board works and the fresh digging by the AP Transco to locate and repair the cable resulted in a major traffic chaos at Alugadda Bavi Junction. Due to the ongoing repair work traffic going from Alugadda Bavi towards Secunderabad Railway station had to be diverted towards Sangeeth Junction, Gopalpuram Traffic Inspector A.V. Satyanarayana said.
Ambulances going to Gandhi Hospital and passengers going towards Secunderabad railway station had to face problems due to this diversion, he observed adding that this also resulted in traffic congestion at already cramped stretch between Mother Theresa Statue and Oliphant Bridge.
Superintending Engineer (Operations and Maintenance) of APTransco N.Bhaskar said restoration of the cable line will take three more days, as the specialist in joining the cable is to arrive from either Jaipur or Mumbai. He will arrive only by Tuesday evening.
In 2011 too, the same cable line was damaged, albeit at a different spot, due to the Water Board’s excavating operations. It took a long time for restoration, as water from the pipelines seeped into the cable, and the extent of damage could not be ascertained with precision. As the incident happened during peak summer, many areas in the city had to be put under rigorous load relief regime for quite a few days.
Six 33/11KV substations respectively at Clock Tower, Indira Park, Narayanguda, Sitaphalmandi, Patigadda and Bansilalpet depended on the 132KV Chilkalguda substations for their input supplies.
Thankfully, there were no major breakdowns this time, as the loads were moderate and could be immediately shifted to other substations.
“We always tell the Board officials to inform us before taking up the digging operations, and carry them out only in the presence of our engineers. They never follow it. While there is no power emergency as of now, much depends on the load position in the coming days,” said Mr.Bhaskar.
