PUNE: About 2,000 people in the
Deccan Gymkhana area had to sweat it out without power since 2pm on Monday till 9.30 in the night because 10 cables of 11KV capacity were gutted in a fire at a switch station of the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited.
An official of the distribution company said the fire started at 2pm at the station near Institute of Management Development and Research (
IMDR) on
Brihan Maharashtra College of Commerce Road, leading to the
power failure on
Jangali Maharaj Road, Deccan Gymkhana area and
Fergusson College Road. The power failure affected around 3,500 consumers.
“We restored power supply to around 1,500 consumers on Apte Road, Shirole Road and BMCC Road by 5pm in phases through a parallel supply network. But we could not provide a similar relief to others as the demand for power was huge because of summer and the load could not be managed,” a statement issued by the power distribution company said.
The power was restored in the rest of the areas around 9.30pm.
The company said the work to replace the damaged cables was started immediately. According to preliminary estimates, the distribution company suffered a loss of Rs6 lakh because of the fire. The reason behind the fire is yet to be ascertained.
The owner of a small grocery and betel store on Fergusson College Road faced several problems because of the power failure. After dusk, the owner was forced to run his store using the torch on his cellphone.
“The power went off around 2pm. Since then, we have been functioning without lights and fan. Lights were not a problem during the day but without the fan, the heat got to us. I have been running the shop using the torch on my cellphone and faced problems in counting money and tendering change. Many people came asking for soft drinks but the refrigerator was not working and so I could not serve them,” said Rafiq Shaikh, the store owner.
Those in the food business were affected the most. Pallak Doshi, a pastry chef working out of a kitchen unit in the Deccan area, said, “I had a few orders lined up for today (Monday), but they had to be cancelled because I could not use any of my equipment. I’m still uncertain about the Tuesday’s cakes that have to go out because I do not know when the power will be restored.”
Girish Jawale, manager, Keventers, FC Road, said, “We were forced to shut down operations because our inverter was running low on charge after functioning for about three hours after the power cut.”
Apparel seller Asif Shaikh said, “I don’t have power backup. Still, I was selling garments with the help of rechargeable lamps. But their battery exhausted as well. So, I had no choice but to shut down for the day.”
The power was restored in the rest of the areas around 9.30pm.