High-velocity wind, rain disrupt power supply

Residents of Gurugram battled with power outages for hours as many electricity poles and transformers were damaged in the heavy rain and thunderstorm, which lashed the city in the wee hours on Friday.

At least seven electricity poles were damaged in New Colony, four in New Palam Vihar, four in Kadipur, one in the Sector 5 area, three in Manesar and nine in Kherki Daula. Most of these were damaged after heavy branches of trees fell on them. It took a few hours for the power corporation to replace these and restore the power supply in the affected areas.

Shivam Shah, a resident of New Palam Vihar, said the power supply was restored in his locality at around 3 pm because a pole was damaged. In other areas, the power supply was restored at 10.30 am, he said. Ashok Kumar, secretary, RWA, Jal Vihar, Sector 46 said the power went off at 4 am and was restored at 12.30 pm.

Bhawani Shankar Tripathi, vice-president, RWA, Sector 23A, said a main electricity wire fell on the cars parked in an open space but no damage was reported as the power supply was already snapped by the power corporation. The damaged electricity wire was repaired and the power supply restored by the noon.

KC Aggarwal Chief Engineer (distribution) of Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Limited (DHBVN), said, “At some places, the trees fell on the electricity poles and overhead wires but no untoward incident was reported as the power supply was already disconnected by the local DHBVN authorities as a precautionary measure.” He said the power supply had been restored in all areas, except for some individual complaints.

The Superintending Engineer of the Gurugram-1 Circle of the DHBVN, Shyambir Saini, said the power supply was disrupted during the morning hours in his circle as it had overhead power supply lines. However, the power supply continued as usual in the cyber city areas where the supply was through the underground cables. Meanwhile, there were reports of a total of 233 electric poles and 28 transformers damaged in the high velocity wind coupled with sudden downpour in Gurugram district.

Shyambir Saini said 185 poles and 23 transformers were damaged in his circle on Friday. The SE of the Gurugram-2 Circle of the DHBVN, Manoj Yadav, said 48 poles and five transformers were damaged in his circle in the morning. Both SEs claimed that they had replaced all damaged poles and transformers and restored the power supply in the affected areas.