PUNE: Power supply was disconnected for almost three hours in Rasta Peth, Kasba Peth, Lullanagar, Kondhwa, Gultekdi, Camp and Swargate areas as an underground cable was damaged during the digging of a road.
The Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Co Ltd (MSEDCL) claimed that power supply was disrupted as an excavation machine being used by the civic body during road construction work, snapped an underground cable.
As per details provided by the MSDECL, the power supply from 132 KV sub-station of MSEDCL was suspended on Saturday at 11.33 am due to the damage to the underground cable. As a result, six sub-stations were also hit and nearly two lakh consumers were badly affected.
“The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) is involved road construction in various city areas. The excavation machine damaged the underground cable while digging the road. Hence, areas including Rasta Peth, Kasba Peth, Lullanagar, Kondhwa, Gultekdi, Camp, Swargate, Mandai, Laxmi Road and Sinhagad Road were affected. Power supply was diconnected almost for three hours. It was later restored to almost 70 per cent areas,” said N K Raut, spokesperson, MSEDCL.
“The cable repair work will take around eight days. During this period, 132 KV sub-station of Rasta Peth will not be functional. Hence, 75 to 80 MW of electricity will be supplied through alternative arrangements. Due to the rising day temperature, power will be in demand. Hence, it cannot be supplied equally to all areas. Therefore, there will be temporarily power cuts of 2 to 3 hours in a rotational manner,” he said.
However, the joint required for the repair of the underground cable was immediately received by an aircraft from Chennai. It will take eight days to fix the problem, he added.
MSEDCL is trying its best to avoid any major power outages as Std X and XII examinations are going on. MSEDCL has appealed to consumers in the affected areas to reduce their use of electricity as per their requirement in next eight days. If the use of electricity is reduced, load-shedding management will be easy and the power supply will be smooth by alternative arrangements.
The power utility had complained earlier that burning garbage near its feeder boxes could cause damage to its cables and can cause blackouts. MSEDCL officials had also pinpointed the areas of Baner, Balewadi, Sus Road and Pashan for such activities.
