Strike cripples power supply in Sangam city

PRAYAGRAJ: The 72-hour-long strike by the employees of the power department, which commenced from 10pm on Thursday, have caused a lot of inconvenience to denizens of the both rural and urban areas of the district. Although health services were smooth, the power supply of various localities of the Sangam City has been adversely affected.
Despite all the claims made by the administration, there was hardly anyone present in the sub-stations to rectify the faults. Because of this, electricity and water supply in many localities was badly affected. Power was down in several localities of the city during different periods of time. The district administration deployed police personnel at each of the substations and power house along with officials of the district administration. As such there was no report of any untoward incident or vandalism by the irritated locals from anywhere, but long power cuts derailed the routine life in the district.

“Power went off at the Medical College campus since Friday morning because of which the pathology and microbiology department did not worked”, said principal of MLN Medical College of the city, Dr SP Singh. However, OPD and operation theatre (OT) at the associated hospital of the college, SRN Hospital, functioned smoothly till around 3:00 pm, he added. Dr Singh further informed that OPD and OT’s at MD Eye Hospital (Nakaas khona) functioned properly. Superintendent in charge of Motilal Nehru divisional hospital (Colvin), Dr Nahida Khatoon said, “When the power went off on Friday morning, I called the electricity department but did not get a satisfactory answer. As we had the proper backup, the OPD and other services ran smoothly”
“Power was down in my locality at 4pm on Thursday and was restored at around 2:00pm on Friday. One can well imagine how we managed without electricity for around 22 hours, especially when the backup of the inverter got over and there was no water, even to cook or drink”, said Richa Srivastava, a housewife of Haveliya locality of Jhunsi. Likewise, another resident of Juhi colony of Rajapur locality, Dr Shachi Dixit said, “Because of the power disruption since Friday morning, I am worried about how to manage water, both for cooking and drinking”. At the sub-station near the old power house (near Niranjan), locals arrived at the substation in the morning but since there was no one to adhere to their problems, they had to return empty handed. At Preetam Nagar, some of the areas were affected.
The transmission of electricity was smooth since commencement of strike on Thursday night. Power in district is transmitted through a network of transmission line which include 400/132 KVA transmission line coming from Meja, 220 KVA power station at Rewa Road and New Cantt, and four sub-stations (each of 132 KVA) at Teliarganj, Minto park, Old power house and Kareli. “The transmission was not affected as it was only distribution part which was affected”, said executive engineer (transmission), LN Chaturvedi.
District Magistrate Sanjay Kumar Khatri said that since morning the problem of power failure has come to fore in Khusrobagh, Hanumanganj, Shankargarh of Bara, Jari, Kalyani Devi and Suraj Kund sub-centres in the city. A dozen contractors of the electricity department are being called and the problem is being resolved. The situation is expected to return to normal by evening.
Meanwhile, the DM held a meeting with the power officials and contractors and has given instructions to maintain special vigilance regarding maintaining proper arrangement of power supply at hospitals and other important places. He has given necessary instructions to all the concerned officers for the smooth operation of the power supply system in urban and rural areas.