NOIDA/GHAZIABAD: Widespread outages continued to be reported across most parts of the two NCR cities with residents blaming slow maintenance and dilapidated power infrastructure for the snags.
Overheating burned several cables connected to the 220KV substation in Botanical Garden late Tuesday night, triggering a night-long outage in three sectors – 30, 31 and 29. In Greater Noida West, yet another cable fault led to a 12-hour outage, affecting over 15 condominiums, several areas in Bhangel plunged into darkness following a snag in a transformer.
In Ghaziabad, several people gathered at the Pratap Vihar powerhouse in protest after Prateek Grand City and neighbouring condominiums in Siddhartha Vihar witnessed multiple outages through Tuesday night due to overload.
Noida PVNNL sub-divisional officer (SDO) Pankaj Sharma said the sweltering heat and a consequent overload left several cables of the 220KV substation in Botanic Garden burnt around midnight on Tuesday.
“A spark at a cable joint burned three-four cables and consequently power supply was disrupted in three to four sectors for nearly 1.5 hours. On Wednesday, we supplied power to the affected areas via alternate connections as repair work continued,” Sharma said. A similar snag in a transformer on a 132 KV line fed from Sector 129 substation affected the power supply at Bhangel and neighbouring areas, the official said.
Residents of Sectors 30, 31, 29, 37 and 38, which get their power supply from the Botanical Garden substation, said there was nearly a six-hour outage since Tuesday midnight. Over two dozen other sectors in Noida – including 12, 50, 41, 93, 45, 34, 62, 63, 22 and 117 – faced outages due to overheated power infrastructure.
The villages of Behlolpur, Bhangel, Sadarpur and Barola were, however, the worst hit. “There were back-to-back power cuts for nearly 5 hours and when the supply finally resumed the voltage was so low that we could not even use fans. The overhead wires are several years old and prone to tears and burns. Complaints have gone unheeded for years,” Sonu Yadav, a resident of Behlolpur in Sector 63, said.
In Greater Noida West, cable faults lead to intermittent outages, lasting up to a few hours between Tuesday and Wednesday, in 28 societies.
“The power discom failed to anticipate the exigencies of the summer. It has resulted in outages for protracted periods and extreme voltage fluctuations that have damaged electrical appliances in several households,” Abhishek Kumar, president of the New Era Flat Owners Welfare Association (NEFOWA), said.
The Noida Power Company Limited (NPCL) supplies power to Greater Noida.
The frequent outages due to transformer snags and cable faults put the spotlight back on the city’s electricity infrastructure, Yogendra Sharma, the president of FONRWA, told TOI.
“For the last three-four years, the pace of maintenance is very slow. Power infrastructure in most areas is dilapidated and that compounds the problem every summer. We will soon meet senior discom officials in the matter,” he said.
Meanwhile, a delegation of AVRWA, comprising Sectors 28, 29 and 37, met Rajeev Mohan, CE PVVNL on Wednesday and apprised him of the regular glitches in the 40-year-old power infrastructure in Noida sectors, especially Arun Vihar. The delegation demanded that the worn-out panel boxes, fuse panels, transformers and meters in Arun Vihar be replaced immediately.
Overheating burned several cables connected to the 220KV substation in Botanical Garden late Tuesday night, triggering a night-long outage in three sectors – 30, 31 and 29. In Greater Noida West, yet another cable fault led to a 12-hour outage, affecting over 15 condominiums, several areas in Bhangel plunged into darkness following a snag in a transformer.
In Ghaziabad, several people gathered at the Pratap Vihar powerhouse in protest after Prateek Grand City and neighbouring condominiums in Siddhartha Vihar witnessed multiple outages through Tuesday night due to overload.
Noida PVNNL sub-divisional officer (SDO) Pankaj Sharma said the sweltering heat and a consequent overload left several cables of the 220KV substation in Botanic Garden burnt around midnight on Tuesday.
“A spark at a cable joint burned three-four cables and consequently power supply was disrupted in three to four sectors for nearly 1.5 hours. On Wednesday, we supplied power to the affected areas via alternate connections as repair work continued,” Sharma said. A similar snag in a transformer on a 132 KV line fed from Sector 129 substation affected the power supply at Bhangel and neighbouring areas, the official said.
Residents of Sectors 30, 31, 29, 37 and 38, which get their power supply from the Botanical Garden substation, said there was nearly a six-hour outage since Tuesday midnight. Over two dozen other sectors in Noida – including 12, 50, 41, 93, 45, 34, 62, 63, 22 and 117 – faced outages due to overheated power infrastructure.
The villages of Behlolpur, Bhangel, Sadarpur and Barola were, however, the worst hit. “There were back-to-back power cuts for nearly 5 hours and when the supply finally resumed the voltage was so low that we could not even use fans. The overhead wires are several years old and prone to tears and burns. Complaints have gone unheeded for years,” Sonu Yadav, a resident of Behlolpur in Sector 63, said.
In Greater Noida West, cable faults lead to intermittent outages, lasting up to a few hours between Tuesday and Wednesday, in 28 societies.
“The power discom failed to anticipate the exigencies of the summer. It has resulted in outages for protracted periods and extreme voltage fluctuations that have damaged electrical appliances in several households,” Abhishek Kumar, president of the New Era Flat Owners Welfare Association (NEFOWA), said.
The Noida Power Company Limited (NPCL) supplies power to Greater Noida.
The frequent outages due to transformer snags and cable faults put the spotlight back on the city’s electricity infrastructure, Yogendra Sharma, the president of FONRWA, told TOI.
“For the last three-four years, the pace of maintenance is very slow. Power infrastructure in most areas is dilapidated and that compounds the problem every summer. We will soon meet senior discom officials in the matter,” he said.
Meanwhile, a delegation of AVRWA, comprising Sectors 28, 29 and 37, met Rajeev Mohan, CE PVVNL on Wednesday and apprised him of the regular glitches in the 40-year-old power infrastructure in Noida sectors, especially Arun Vihar. The delegation demanded that the worn-out panel boxes, fuse panels, transformers and meters in Arun Vihar be replaced immediately.