Ponda: In a major fire reported at the Electricity Department’s Ponda substation at Curti, the sophisticated data transmission system of the department termed as SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) was gutted in a fire on Monday afternoon.
In this incident no casualties were reported, but the SCADA system of the department has been completely damaged, cutting off the on-time data transfer from the Ponda substation to its control room at Margao.
The fire department officials have not yet estimated the exact loss in the incident, but engineers at the substation have stated that the system may cost the department Rs 15 to Rs 20 lakh.
As per information, the incident occurred at around 12.45 pm in the data monitoring room of the substation housed at Curti near Goa Dairy premises. Some of the staff noticed smoke coming out of the room and soon informed the fire department about the incident. Following which two fire tenders were pressed into service to control the fire and almost after 1 hour long operation, the fire was doused by the team headed by officer Sushil Morajkar.
Fire officials have said that an internal short circuit might have led to the fire in the room and further investigation is in progress.
Reacting to the incident, Ponda substation assistant engineer P P Bhardan said that the SCADA system of the department has been damaged due to a fire incident. The system was used to monitor voltage in the substation and used to transmit on-time data to its control room in Margao. Though it’s a major loss to the department, the fire incident won’t have any impact on the power transmission from the substation, he said.
