Tree fall, cables snapped: Outages hit several sectors

NOIDA: Outages continued in several sectors of Noida following brief showers. The affected areas included sectors 5, 19, 82, 28, 29, 44, 116, 122, and more.
While a transformer caught fire in Mahila Park in Sector 5 near Harola village, trees and their branches fell in sectors 19, 30, 28, etc.
“Two big trees fell, including one on an e-rickshaw in our sector. The passengers had just deboarded and the driver had gone to get some change, so no one was injured. However, the e-rickshaw was completely smashed,” said Parmod Verma, RWA president, Sector 30.
But the outages have been happening in the sector even before the incident occurred.
“We have been experiencing power cuts for hours in the past two days. Two months ago, we were promised the replacement of old cables and wires with one PVC wire. Officials said short circuits due to rain, birds, and trees will stop once the PVC wire is placed. We were told the work on it would start in 15 days, but even after two months, we can’t see any sign of the work. When we contacted the officials again, they said the work had been given to a private contractor and that they are not in touch with him,” added Verma.
Residents of Sector 122 also complained of similar tree-falling incidents that led to snaps. “Trees fell at many places due to strong wind and showers. As a result, one road got blocked, and there were power cuts too,” said Umesh Sharma, RWA president of Sector 122.
Some tree branches fell in Sector 19, too. “Some tree branches fell on electric poles. This was followed by heavy voltage fluctuations, with the problem affecting residents of Block A the most. This situation has been persisting for the past 7-8 years now,” said Laxmi Narain, the RWA general secretary, Sector 19.
While UD Sharma, RWA president of Swarnim Vihar in Sector 82, maintained no power supply for over an hour due to a local fault, Devdutt Sharma claimed the outage occurred for over two hours in Sector 112. Sudhir Sood, the RWA joint secretary of Sector 44, said, irrespective of rain, the area faces several power cuts on a daily basis.
Meanwhile, in sectors 28 and 29, feeder number 5 tripped, leading to a supply failure on the 33 kV line. In Sector 32, the outage lasted for half an hour.
This situation has remained the same for the last couple of days, when demand peaked at nearly 1,900mW by Thursday. Also, due to the burning of an 11 kV AB cable in Sector 11 on Thursday, people in many sectors did not get power for over three hours.
Power officials said teams have been sent to remove the fallen trees and fix cables and local faults.
“Night checks with complaint numbers have been initiated to facilitate redress. SDO and JEs will lead the checking team during the night,” said a PVVNL official.
Further, in view of the power cuts, Uttar Pradesh energy minister AK Sharma has appealed to people to use the 24-hour statewide toll-free number 1912 or the power distribution company’s number 1800 180 3002 to seek solutions to their power-related problems.