Though people across the Cauvery belt were rejoicing over the bountiful rain this monsoon, several villages in rain-affected Chikkamagaluru and Kodagu districts have remained in the dark for the last five to six days owing to disconnection in power supply caused on account of trees falling on electricity poles. In the worst-hit villages, there is no power for over a week.
Heavy rain accompanied by winds have brought down hundreds of electricity poles in the region.
While 200 electricity poles had been uprooted in Chikkamagaluru division alone, a Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Corporation (CESC) official in Kodagu said 838 poles had crashed during the last five to six days of incessant rain in Kodagu.
Though Mangalore Electricity Supply Company (Mescom) in Chikkamagaluru and CESC in Kodagu have deployed men and material, restoration of power supply has remained incomplete. “We will be able to complete the work faster if the rain stops. It is difficult to re-erect the fallen poles in the midst of the rain,” a CESC official said, referring to the continuous downpour lashing the region.
He described the Kodagu belt from Suntikoppa to Mahadevaura as the worst hit. Similarly, the region extending up to Kedekal from Suntikoppa, which was also badly affected, too has several villages where electricity has remained elusive.
In Chikkamagaluru, villages around Mallanduru, alongside the road to Chandra Drona hills, besides Aldur and Jayapura have no power supply for the last five to six days. The situation in parts of Koppa, N.R. Pura and Sringeri is worse. Many villages do not have power supply for more than a week. The situation deteriorated after heavy rain accompanied by strong winds lashed the region on July 14 and 15. Mescom authorities, with limited staff, are struggling to restore power lines.
In Kodagu, CESC personnel, who are stretched to the limit, have been assisted by a 40-member team from Mysuru who have been deployed in different parts of the district along with equipment and vehicles. Additionally, 125 gangmen too have been temporarily hired.
“Out of the 838 poles that had fallen, 683 are yet to be re-erected,” an official said, and added that power supply had been restored in several areas without re-erecting the poles. CESC officials hope to restore power supply completely in Kodagu over the next one week.
Mobile phones dead
In Chikkamagaluru, many people have not been able to lodge a complaint about power cut in their area as they have not been able to charge their mobilephones. A few youths were spotted charging their phones at a BSNL office at Karkeshwara in Koppa taluk, where the office runs on diesel generator.
K. Shivakumar, executive engineer of Mescom, told The Hindu , “We have completed restoring 11-kV lines and restoration of lines connecting individual houses and groups of houses is going on.”
