Telangana Power Staff Help AP Brethren Deal With Arnab Cyclone

In a major inter-state cooperation, Telangana government has deployed 640 electricity department personnel spread over 78 teams to help restore power supply in areas where the distribution network suffered extensive damage in Arnab cyclone-hit Andhra Pradesh.

The teams of Telangana Northern Power Distribution Company Limited (TGNPDCL) personnel left for Amalapuram region on Thursday from their headquarters at Nakkalagutta in Hanamkonda. The TG staff are assisting in up-righting or replacing uprooted electricity poles, connecting damaged power lines, and attending to other infrastructure works to expedite restoration of supply in the affected areas.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu brought the extensive damage to AP state’s power infrastructure and to the attention of Telangana Deputy Chief Minister and Energy Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka. After discussing the matter with Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, Vikramarka directed TG power officials to dispatch restoration teams to the neighbouring state.

Preliminary estimates indicated that more than 16,000 electricity poles had been uprooted, disrupting power supply to hundreds of villages in Anakapalli, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram, Srikakulam, Eluru, NTR, Guntur, Parvathipuram Manyam, and Alluri Sitharama Raju districts, among other districts. The scale of the damage in AP necessitated deployment of additional personnel to undertake restoration work on a war footing and help bring electricity supply back to affected communities at the earliest.

Those involved in planning deployment of Telangana personnel in restoration of power infrastructure in AP included TGNPDCL directors V. Mohan Rao and T. Madhusudhan, chief engineers Ashok, Surender and Gautham Reddy, Hanamkonda superintendent engineer Samya Nayak, deputy engineers Rahimulla Hussain and Ganesh, and agency representative Suresh Rao, among others.