Capital8217;s electricity supply snaps

NEW DELHI, October 2: A sudden storm in the morning snapped the power supply to nearly the entire city today. Some areas suffered power c...

NEW DELHI, October 2: A sudden storm in the morning snapped the power supply to nearly the entire city today. Some areas suffered power cuts as long as eight hours. And in some areas in south Delhi, where electricity poles got uprooted, DVB officials said that it could take more than 24 hours to restore the supply.

People complained that there was no response from the Delhi Vidyut Board DVB complaint centres. The grid stations at Najafgarh, Bawana, Mehrauli, Nehru Place, Adchini, Masjid Moth, Sarai Jullena, Malviya Nagar and Vivek Vihar collapsed, shutting off power till late in the evening.

Officials blamed the crisis on the trees which fell on power lines. The DVB today decided to set up a committee which will look into the matter of trimming of trees and decide whether it is the DVB that will prune the trees or the Municipal corporation of Delhi MCD.

In some places because of strong winds, DVB officials initially switched off the power to prevent short-circuiting. Several overhead high tension wires had snapped after trees fell on them, said Board spokesman Jagdish Kapoor. 8220;Winds gushing at the speed of 80 to 90 km per hour uprooted trees and heavy trees and thick branches fell on the power lines disrupting the power supply,8221; a south circle official said. Several areas in south Delhi including Greater Kailash, Hauz Khas, Safdarjung Development Area, Vasant Vihar, IIT, Mehrauli among others suffered long hours of power cut due to the storm and subsequent rains. A resident of Jungpura said that around 10.45 am they heard blasts and after that the power supply got disconnected.

Till late evening work was underway to restore the power supply. 8220;In most areas, the high tension wires were removed from under the trees and power supply restored but work is still on in Julena and parts of Lajpat Nagar,8221; a south circle official said. 8220;The problem in Sarai Julena is that overhead conductors broke due to high velocity winds and even as we try to join them in one place, they snap in another place. And because some poles were uprooted it is taking time to find new poles to replace them,8221; he added.

Within half an hour of the storm and even as it rained, board officials said restoration work had begun. Spokesman Kapoor said that Chairman Virender Singh, the chief engineer and other senior engineers reached the troubled areas in their respective districts.