Villages trip on power
Rajay Deep

Bathinda

Asia’s largest cantonment-Bathinda cantonment along with 100-odd villages in the district reel under the power disruption as the towers of 132 kv double circuit line were damaged on Friday morning.

Though the work on restructuring the towers is going on at full speed, the total restoration of the power supply would take at least four more days, informed officials in the power department.

According to information, a double circuit tower carrying the load of six wires of 132 kv located near the Homeland colony in the city, under some mysterious circumstances, fell on the ground on Friday morning. The load of the wires was so heavy that it twisted another transmission tower also.

With the two high rise towers falling on the ground, wires touched each other and a large number of transformers at sub stations were tripped.

As per the estimate of the officials of Powercom and Transcom, power supply to nearly 100 villages being fed by the 66 kv substations at Maur, Bangi, Jaga Ram Tirath, Talwandi Sabo, Rama and Jodhpur Romana villages was immediately disconnected.

Besides the residential and commercial feeders, agricultural feeders were also hit.

Adding to the misery, a sub-station located at the Industrial growth centre at Mansa road in Bathinda that feeds the sub-station in Cantonment also lost the supply and the whole Cantonment area reeled under the problem.

Sensing the gravity of the situation, all the officials of the power department pulled up their socks and by making some temporary arrangements, like taking power from emergency feeders, managed to partially restore the power supply within the Cantonment area.

Still, major portion of the cantonment is either on fuel-run generators or reeling under dark.

Speaking to Daily Post, senior executive engineer of the Powercom, Hardeep Singh Sidhu informed that a team of emergency staff of the transmission and maintenance from Jalandhar was immediately called to Bathinda on Friday. He claimed that the work on the restoration of the power supply was at full pace.

Sidhu added that the officials concerned were putting their best to restore the supply at the maximum number of the affected villages also by arranging power from one or the other sub-stations.

However, he maintained that despite all attempts it would take four more days to complete the process.

Meanwhile, the staff deployed on restructuring the towers informed that the foundation of one tower was badly damaged to water-logging menace that led to its fall. They added that the quagmire like situation at the site for the erection of tower was proving a hassle in the filling of the foundation.