Eden power snag sparks blame game

CAB president Prasun Mukherjee held the CESC responsible, saying the light partially went off due to a grid failure at the power supply company’s BBD Bag sub-station.

Basing his comments on a conversation he had with a CESC assistant engineer soon after the snag occured at 7.02 pm, Mukherjee said, “Not only the Eden Gardens, the lights in the area in the neighbourhood of the stadium also went off. He told me it was due to a grid failure”.

However, a CESC spokesman said “CESC supply to Eden remained uninterrupted all evening. It was an internal problem of Eden Gardens”.

Contesting the CESC version, Mukherjee said “Why did the neighbouring areas then face power disruption? Power supply is a technical matter, and we have paid Rs 44,000 to the CESC to ensure uninterrupted power”.

Mukherjee said he would hold talks with CESC officials to ensure that such problems do not occur in the remaining IPL ties.

“Six more matches are to be played here. We cannot let such things happen again”.

He, though, described the disruption as an “accident which was immediately attended to and solved”.

After power supply was fully restored, the match resumed at 7-33 pm.

Meanwhile, West Bengal PWD minister Kshiti Goswami, whose department is responsible for maintenance of Eden Gardens, apologised to the spectators and organisers for their inconvenience.

“Power supply in the Eden Gardens was disrupted because of tripping in high tension line which led to suspension of the match unfortunately for sometime.

“Such a fault takes place on occasions, but it was unfortunate that it happened tonight during this important event,” he said.

West Bengal is no stranger to sporting events getting affected due to power failure.

A pre-world cup match at the 1,25,000 capacity Salt Lake stadium had to be suspended for 25 minutes on September 8, 2004, after rats snapped some cables at a West Bengal State Electricity Board sub-station in the stadium.

An NFL encounter at the same stadium was also stopped for some time due to a power breakdown a few years back.