Just a month before monsoon is due, the late-night storm on Sunday exposed several chinks in the armour of Madhya Pradesh Western Region Power Distribution Company.
Not only did the storm disrupt the power supply, plunging the entire city into darkness, but it also took the West Discom several hours to repair the faults and restore 100 per cent power supply in the city.
At some places the power supply, which was disrupted at around 9.30 pm could not be resumed till 4 am. Lakhs of people had to spend a sleepless night due to the absence of electricity on a hot summer night.
While refusing to accept lapses on its part, the West Discom on Monday claimed that it was prompt and had resumed power supply in most of the parts of the city.
“Storm and rain in some places had hit the city around 9.30 pm on Sunday disrupting power supply in many parts. Due to storm, trees, branches, hoardings, tin-sheds and clothes fell on electricity lines and poles at nearly 100 places causing the faults. Out of 469 feeders of 11 KV in the city, supply of 400 feeders was normalised by 10.30 pm,” said West Discom city superintendent engineer Ashok Sharma.
He claimed that the supply of all major hospitals remained unaffected and most of the feeders supply was resumed by 10.45 pm.
“By 11.30 pm, only 25 feeders were under dark. By 12.30 am, their number came to 15 and the situation became 100 per cent normal in the next two and a half hours,” Sharma said.
Nearly 300 employees and 40 engineers of the company were working to restore the supply in the city, he added.
The Discom received around 500 complaints during the blackout even as the total number of complaints received on Sunday stood at 1000.
Contrary to the claims of West Discom, residents across the city complained of electricity playing hide-and-seek throughout the night. The power supply was resumed around 12 pm but it continued to play hide and seek till 3 pm,” said Ravi Bhadoriya, a resident of Mahalaxami.
Ramchandra Nagar residents also made such claims. People of Tilak Nagar, Palhar Nagar, Vaibhav Nagar, Sanchar Nagar, also made identical claims.
Maintenance for monsoon underway
West Discom stated that the maintenance work at electricity lines, grids and poles is underway ahead of monsoon. People should be rest assured there won’t be any problem electricity problem during the monsoon, the Discom stated.
Every morning, the power shutdown is done for maintenance work. The Discom stated that there won’t be many power issues during monsoon once the maintenance work is over.
