Noida: RWAs question power department on outages, seek redress

NOIDA: RWA federation including over 50 members held an online video conference with Noida power department officials where they raised issues and sought answers on problems relating to frequent outages, spark/burning of transformers/cables, lack of maintenance of power infrastructure and incomplete work related to upgrade including replacing old, rusting poles, cable boxes, overhead cables etc. as promised.
The meeting which was organised by Federation of Noida Resident Welfare Association (FONRWA) had president, Yogendra Sharma raise the issue of frequent outages in the city. “Power outages are more frequent these days, with daily cuts of 1-2 hours in some sectors. We urged the power department officials to check old transformers in need of maintenance and unable to take increasing load so that incidents of fire could be controlled. We also demanded that other shortcomings be fixed at the earliest including regular meetings between SDOs with respective RWAs once a month to redress ongoing issues,” said Sharma.
The meeting that was attended by VN Singh chief zonal engineer Noida power department along with Sarvesh Khare, BL Maurya superintendent engineers and other officers, had FONRWA secretary general KK Jain raise the questions on lack of infra upgrade as promised. “Even after being notified as a 'no power cut zone', Noida is facing daily outages - many a times going up to 4-5 hours. These are mostly caused by local snags and not because of supply shortages. To make Noida a 'no-tripping zone', the latest upgrades in the power infrastructure were promised. But ground reality is different with work done is minimal,” said Jain who questioned when the promised infra upgrade will be in place.
While most RWAs complained about old electric poles in their sector which are prone to collapse as they have rusted and melted, others raised issues of rusting panel boxes / junction boxes, circuit breakers and defective cables.
Sharma maintained that a lot of damage in the sectors 39, 40, 41 has occurred due to the recent storm of June 10 which has not been fully repaired. Other RWAs complained that many transformers installed in their sectors do not address the power outage issue as any fault leads to entire sector outage rather than the blocks linked to the particular transformer.
Even as OP Yadav RWA president Aravalli sector 52 complained that the meter fixing job is incomplete, other members raised the issue of unpruned trees, wild plants and shrubs near transformers, often leading to fire and damage to equipment due to lack of cleanliness. “Transformers should be kept in concrete structures so that such bushes do not grow there,” said Jain adding that in the absence of pruning of trees, leaves/branches from the tree get tangled with overhead cables, causing a short circuit. “Lack of maintenance staff is also a problem,” said Jain.
While chief zonal engineer Noida power department VN Singh admitted that the electric poles and panel box are in very poor condition, work on repairs and replacement is underway.
“I got the approval to replace the 2000 old pillars/poles. Work on it started also, but it could not be completed due to the locked down. So far 650 old pillars have been replaced. We have resumed replacing remaining poles and soon the problem will be resolved,” said Singh.
Apart from this, work of converting ABC cable (aerial bundled cable) insulator conductor up to 27 km length line is also underway. “This will help in the smooth supply of electricity. Also, some of the underground cables will be replaced and control panels will be installed near the transformer which will improve the voltage problem,” said Singh adding that some old power plants will also be renovated even as talks have been held with concerned Noida Authority horticulture department to undertake the pruning of trees and bushes/shrubs near transformers.