BSES launches 24X7 helpline for sister discoms

To minimise the digging related incidents and increase consumer safety, Delhi Power Distribution Company (discom) BSES on Friday launched 'Dial n Dig', a dedicated 24 x 7 helpline numbers for its sister discoms in the capital —BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd (BRPL) and BSES Yamuna Power Ltd (BYPL). While the number for BRPL, operating in south and west Delhi, is 1800 3000 9707, that of BYPL, with jurisdiction in east and central Delhi, is 39997376, a BSES release said.

A senior BSES said that there can be several reasons for outages, many of which are not in our control but many of these are easily preventable. Our analysis has shown that unplanned digging (for road repair or to lay cables/ pipelines) is a major cause for scores of outages across South, West Delhi, East and Central Delhi.  “On an average, around 800-1000 underground cables get damaged annually due to this,” he said.It has been noticed that while laying cables, pipelines, civic agencies, telecom, operators and their contractors inadvertently damage or puncture electricity cables. This causes but can also be a serious threat for passersby and for workers involved in the digging. It also causes substantial monetary loss to the discom,” he said.

The official further said that these kind of incident scan be avoided by informing the BSES well before planned excavation / digging on any corridor. “This will help the discoms take necessary measures in time to prevent damages to electricity cables and disruption in power supply,” he said.

According to a BSES spokesperson “As part of the campaign, we plan to educate civic agencies to sensitise their officials, contractors and office bearers about the importance of informing BSES before undertaking digging. “This seemingly small step can help prevent outages, electrical accidents and inconvenience to the residents,” he said. BRPL and BYPL are premier power distribution companies and Joint Ventures between Reliance Infrastructure Limited and GoNCT.