VIJAYAWADA: Power restoration works in the flood-affected East and West Godavari districts have been going on in full swing for the last three days and the department is confident of restoring power in the remaining areas, as flood recedes, by August 26. Energy Secretary Nagulapalli Srikant said that the restoration would be done within 24 hours of receding of water. 

Though several restoration works ­— all 33 kv lines (40 km), 33 kv poles (800 units) and 33 kv feeders, and 19,179 domestic connections — were done in the last three days, the officials hand tripped the rectified works, which were inundated once again on Friday, as the water level was drastically increasing due to heavy rainfall in upstream like Bhadrachalam. “The rectified feeders were hand tripped to avoid accidents. Due to this, the rectification works are going on at a slow pace. However, it is planned to restore supply within 24 hours after water recedes in the affected areas,” the officials said, in a statement on Friday.

The power supply will be restored at Yetapaka, VR Puram, Kunavaram and Chinturu mandals of East Godavari district by August 24 and Devipatnam mandal by August 26. Similarly, the power restoration works will be completed in Velairpad mandal of West Godavari district by Friday, Kukunuru mandal by August 22, Achanta and Elamanchili mandals by August 23 and Polavaram mandal by August 25.

According to APEPDCL chairperson and managing director S Nagalakshmi, power network in 140 villages in 22 mandals of East Godavari district and 97 villages in five mandals of West Godavari district was impacted due to the floods. About 19,179 non-agriculture connections out of 30,375 connections, and 1,286 agriculture connections out of 3,369 connections have been affected. The cost of damage has been estimated at `2.26 crore so far.

Energy Minister Balineni Srinivasa Reddy emphasised the need for a plan that could help reduce uncertainty after a disaster such as floods, cyclones and heavy gales, and allow officials to plan for short and long term power restoration operations on a war footing to mitigate financial and infrastructure-related losses.