Power failure spoils Sunday plans

B'luru north worst affected as transmission line breaks down

Many parts of the City, particulary north Bengaluru, went without power for several hours since Sunday afternoon following a major breakdown at the 220-kv KPTCL transmission line between Peenya and Nelamangala.

According to official sources, the Peenya-Nelamangala transmission lines faced a ‘flashover of a lightening arrest’ with nearly 400 mega watts of load shedding since afternoon. 

Areas such as Hebbal, RT Nagar, Kavalbyrasandra, Yelahanka, RMV Layout, KG Halli, Matthikere Yeshwantpur, Peenya, Vyalikaval, Doddabommasandra, Jalahalli, BEL, Ganganagar, Fraser Town, Cox Town, Banaswadi and surrounding localities were badly affected.

There was a power outage for more than six hours in many of these areas. Power supply which went haywire around 1.45 pm was restored at around 5.45 pm in some places and, by 9 pm all the areas received power supply.

 As it was a Sunday, many residents were at home watching television shows and cleaning up homes. “I had planned to wash a huge pile of clothes. But, as there was no power for long, I could not switch on the washing machine,” rued Bharthi, a bank employee and a resident of Matthikere.

Ashok Kumar, a resident of Gangangar, said that more than the residents, it was shopkeepers who were affected severly by the unscheduled power cut as their business were hit towards the evening on a Sunday.

“With no streetlights, it was difficult for many, particularly senior citizens like me to venture out in the evening,” he added.

Meanwhile, Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Managing Director Pankaj Kumar Pandey said that as it was a Sunday, the power cut did not affect the people much as most of the offices and industries were closed.

He said that the usual consumption of power is 1,400 MW on a Sunday in these areas and around 2,200 MW on a weekday.  
DH News Service