Digging work snaps power supply to Noida Extension

Greater Noida: Residents of over 20 housing societies in sectors 16, 16 B, 16 C and Techzone 4 of Noida Extension have been living on power backup since 10.30am on Wednesday as the supply was snapped in the areas after two 33kV cables got damaged due to digging by an earthmover.
The work was being carried out to repair a wall that had been damaged during the rains on Tuesday.
While in many societies Noida Power Company Limited (NPCL) restored power supply by 4.15pm through re-routing the network, officials said the supply in Gaur City 1 will only be restored after the cable damage is rectified.
“There has been outage in Greno West societies since around 10.30am. The gensets have been running for over six hours now,” said Manish Singh, a resident of Greno West.
Similarly, another resident of Gaur City 1, Sunil Jalota, rued that electronic items were getting affected.
“Since the houses in society have been running on power back up, we have to minimise the use of electronic equipment such as AC, washing machine, etc,” he said.
When contacted, Sarnath Ganguly, the general manager of NPCL, told TOI that the cables were damaged by an earthmover when workers of Greater Noida Industrial Development Authority (GNIDA) under work circle 8 were engaged in some excavation work near Gaur City.
“The digging was being done without informing us. Interestingly, after the damage, the contractor piled up the soil on the damaged cable and left the site. Due to this damage, more than 20 housing societies of Noida Extension, including Gaur City, went without power for several hours,” he said.
“We re-routed the network and explored options to restore supply in the area, which was eventually restored by 4.15pm. But supply to about 6-7 complexes within Gaur City 1 will be restored after the damage is rectified which will take time as the work has just started,” said the official.
Meanwhile, some sources in GNIDA said that the earthmover was deployed to clear the debris of a drain wall that had collapsed after heavy rainfall on Tuesday. However, Ganguly was upset on the extent of damage done to the cables. “They dug so much area that they came in the way of the 33 kV cables and damaged them. If work was carried out under proper supervision, the situation could have been avoided,” added Ganguly.