Simultaneous technical snags in three 11-KV electrical feeder lines led to a blackout of two hours in many areas of the Asmangadh division, while damage to a distribution transformer near Chanchalguda left the residents without power for hours on Friday night.
An underground cable near Yakutpura snapped at around 9 p.m. when the GHMC road-widening works were in progress, resulting in power failure. The incident coincided with two more glitches-- a line snap near Anandnagar and a breaker problem in a substation near Chowni, leading to power interruptions in a wider area.
Affected areas include Yakutpura, Shah Colony, Bagh-e-Zahara, Guddibowli, Chowni, Kurmaguda, Saidabad, Akbarbagh, and Azampura. The problem was rectified in two hours, informed officials.
However, a distribution transformer that conked out near Chanchalguda at around 4 a.m. was restored only on Saturday afternoon, triggering protests from the enraged residents.
Demonstration held
About 200 people, led by corporator Amzadullah Khan, held a demonstration in front of the Chanchalguda substation on Saturday morning demanding action from officials.
“This is not the first time that an incident like this is happening. The discom does not maintain transformers properly in the old city and this is leading to many technical problems. Repeated complaints go unheeded,” alleged Mr. Khan. The line in Anandnagar was hanging for quite a while, yet the officials failed to recognise the problem even upon being informed, he said.
Mr. Khan alleged that repeated calls to the fuse-off call centres remained unanswered. There were no officials available at the centre to address the problem.
However, officials ascribed the snag to garbage piled up underneath the transformer which caught fire and led to circuit breakdown. Repairing it was a heavy job and needed time, they said.
