Power board, PWD incur Rs 15 crore loss

Dushyant Singh Pundir and Abhinav Vashisht

Tribune News Service

Mandi/Kullu, December 18

The Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board Limited (HPSEBL) and the Public Works Department (PWD) have incurred a loss of nearly Rs 15 crore in the December 13-14 snowfall in the region.

More than 1,000 electric poles were damaged and 132 kv high tension (HT) lines were snapped at Nau near Bajaura in Kullu district in one of the heaviest snowfall in the recent times.

Soon after the transmission lines were damaged on Sunday last, the entire Kullu district plunged into darkness. The damage to the electric lines was caused mostly by uprooted trees, said SK Goyal, HPSEBL Chief Engineer, Central Zone, Mandi.

He said the board had initially suffered a loss of nearly Rs 10 crore in Mandi, Kullu, Bilaspur and Lahaul-Spiti districts. Poles, wires, conductors, transformers and allied equipment were damaged in the snowstorm, he added.

Nearly 700 employees of the board and private contractors were engaged in repair round the clock.

In Mandi distict, power supply has been partially restored in Gohar, Kasog and Barot and at Jhanjheli it would be restored soon, he said and added that in some areas of Bajaura, power was being supplied from Thalot sub-station in Mandi district.

Kullu PWD Superintending Engineer Lalit Mohan said it would take another week to restore all the roads in the interior areas of the district.

On plying of buses, Kullu HRTC regional manager Pawan Sharma said 130 routes were still suspended.

Avalanche hits Koksar

Reports said an avalanche had hit Koksar in Lahaul and Spiti. The work was going on to clear the road up to Rohtang Pass so that digging work in the north portal in Lahaul-Spiti district of the Rohtang tunnel could begin.

Last batch of tourists rescued

Kullu Additional District Magistrate Vinay Singh said the last batch of six — two men, two women and two children — were rescued from Marhi on Thursday. They were stranded at Marhi rescue post  since Sunday.