Many Patna areas face power outage amid scorching heat

PATNA: Residents of many areas in the state capital are facing double whammy due to sizzling hot weather and frequent power cuts. The hot weather has led to surge in power demand, which has gradually increased from 550 MW per day to 650 MW in last couple of days, as people have switched to cooling appliances with the rise in temperature in the city.
Ajay Sinha, a resident of Patel Nagar, said the electricity department boasted about uninterrupted power supply but the situation was very bad as they suffered regular power cuts in their area. "When the temperature rises, we witness more power cuts. It is a complete failure of the department in providing electricity in Patna in this severe summer," he said.
Echoing similar views, Sumit Kumar of Ashok Nagar said, "It is extremely difficult to do anything with such long power cuts. Yesterday, there was no electricity in my area for about two hours. The heat is unbearable."
According to engineers of Patna Electric Supply Undertaking (PESU), which undertakes power supply work in Patna and some peripheral areas, the power was interrupted in areas like Ashok Nagar, pockets of Kankerbagh, Bahadurpur, Nala Road, HIG Colony and other localities due to local cable fault.
Murtaza Hilal, general manager of PESU, told this newspaper that the main reason behind these power outages was excessive use of electrical appliances against the sanctioned load, which put additional load on the transformers.
"To cater to the increasing load, Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS) has been planned, under which 2,900 km long LT cables and 380 km HT cables will be laid and 709 distribution transformers will be installed in PESU areas. The work has already been awarded and it will begin within a couple of months. For interim measures, we have installed 25 transformers in such areas from where power outages are reported. Ten more transformers will be installed at the identified locations, where overloading of transformer occurred rampantly. I have asked the executive engineers to identify other locations as well," he said.
The GM said the other reason for power cuts was due to damage of power cables owing to ongoing development work by different agencies. "On Wednesday, BUIDCO engineers started the work without informing the PESU and damaged the 11kv cable. It took 2-3 hours to restore the power depending on the situation. Sometimes, we have to shut the power due to development work in certain areas and also due to fire and short-circuit. Hooking (katia) is another reason for power snap," Hilal said.