Heavy showers disrupt power supply, 85,000 consumers affected in Pune

Pune: Water supply was hit due to heavy rains in Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, including Mulshi, Maval and Khed talukas. After flood water entered many housing societies on Sinhagad Road, power supply through 13 major cables, including 699 distributing transformers, was suspended as a safety measure. Consequently, around 84,600 consumers were affected in various areas.

MSEDCL employees were trying to restore power supply disrupted in many areas. Showers till Thursday afternoon put a major hurdle in their way. Supply could not be restored in areas where electric equipment were under water or were switched off for the safety purpose. At such places, MSEDCL employees were restoring power supply only after flood water subsided and ensuring safety.

Power supply through 38 transformers was switched off as a safety measure due to inundation of housing societies on Sinhagad Road such as Ektanagari, Puja Park, Gayatri Apartments, Sai Apartments, Siddhi Apartments, Jalpujan Apartments, Shyamsundar Apartments, Hingne, Kirkatwadi, Swargate, Dhayari, Vadgaon and Navi Peth. Moreover, power supply through 17 transformers was switched off in Vadgaon Sheri, Ahmednagar Road and Vishrantwadi areas.

Power supply was suspended to areas such as Chavan Nagar, Balaji Mandir, Beverly Hills, Wakdewadi, Shinde Garden, Ayodhya Nagari in the Shivajinagar area, Sindh Society, Rajiv Gandhi Nagar in Khadki, Rasta Peth, Bhavani Nagar, Juna Bazar, Melwani Compound, Manish Park Society, Kondhwa, Pisoli Road, Khadi Machine Chowk, Wanawadi, Warje and Karve Nagar.

Power supply to Gharkul and Ota Scheme in Nigdi was suspended. Power supply was turned off through 55 transformers in Matoshree Nagar in sector 4, areas along the river in Ravet, Sangvi, Hinjawadi, Dapodi and Kharalwadi.

Around 40 electricity poles collapsed in Mulshi taluka. This affected electricity supply through 105 transformers and 2,600 customers in 12 villages. Around 29 transformers were shut as a precaution in Bhukum, Bhugaon, Maan and Marunji. Power supply was suspended to around 19 villages in Kamshet, Lonavala, Karla, Vadgaon and Talegaon areas.

MSEDCL on a high alert

The MSEDCL is on a high alert due to excessive rainfall and floods. Chief Engineer Rajendra Pawar started taking stock of power supply after every hour from early morning on Thursday. He instructed all engineers and employees to be alert on the field. He surveyed power supply systems in Hingne, Deccan Gymkhana and Vishrantwadi. He issued instructions about measures to be taken. MSEDCL has appealed to customers to cooperate with them during the excessive rains and floods.

QUOTE

“The style of functioning of MSEDCL was exposed as lakhs of citizens in many areas faced outages from Wednesday night. The civic body and the MSEDCL are blaming it on heavy rains. The standard of maintenance and repairs carried out before the monsoon has been revealed. Pune gives the highest revenue and has minor power thefts in the State. However, what service Puneites are getting is visible.”