Hyderabad: Although the Telangana state government claims that there is no power cut in the state, the ground reality is different. From April 1 to 29, residents went without power for more than 100 hours in areas under the Southern Power Distribution Company (SPDCL). This covered five districts including Hyderabad.
Hyderabad, in particular the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), was the worst-affected. Out of the total affected hours, there was no power in GHMC limits for about 80 hours. According to SPDCL, the power supply was stopped due to sudden power breakdowns and scheduled outage. As per SPDCL records, the affected five districts are Hyderabad, Rangareddy, Mahabub-nagar, Nalgonda and Medak.
The stoppage of power supply ranged from 1 hour to 4 hours. Due to scheduled outage, supply was stopped for about 45 hours, and due to power break downs, it was stopped for 35 hours, in the GHMC limits in these 29 days. Not only the twin cities, but districts also suffered due to frequent power interruptions.
The main reasons for the sudden power breakdown are failure of the underground cables, fall of tree branches on transmission lines, birds perching themselves on transmission lines and various technical faults. The affected areas are Jubilee Hills, Banjara Hills, Kukatpally, MLAs Colony, Raj Bhavan area, Film Nagar, Madhapur, Gachibowli, Moula Ali etc.
On April 1, due to a cable fault, supply was stopped to MLAs Colony for one hour and 25 minutes. On April 23, due to a 33 KV jumper cut, supply was cut for three hours and 10 minutes in Gachibowli area. Supply was stopped on April 26 due to some technical problem (end kit failure) for about two hours in Dilkusha guest house area besides to Raj Bhavan.
On April 18, there was no power at IAS quarters area from 7am to 10am due to auto re-closure work. On April 4, due to maintenance works, power supply was stopped for four hours in Paigah palace, NRR Puram, NBT Nagar, Amerpet etc.
Energy department officials said that, apart from regular maintenance works, old cables are causing frequent power interruptions. He said if underground cables are laid, some interruptions like falling of trees, problems from birds etc on transmission lines can be avoided. TRANSO officials said they are replacing old cables with new ones in many areas. There are 15-year-old cables in some areas, which have to be replaced with new cables.
