Aging infra, demand for excess load leads to power interruptions; work on new substation in progress
MAPUSA
Amidst sporadic mild showers, a section of the residents of Khorlim, Mapusa experienced power failure for almost 14 hours bringing to light the stark reality of an aging infrastructure and pressure on the existing load output in the town.
The locals of Ektanagar, Khorlim had a harrowing time since late Friday evening after power failed in their area at around 10 pm.
Despite several calls to the department and the local councillor, the aggrieved residents had to pass the night and the whole morning the next day without power. Power was finally restored in the area only at noon on Saturday.
This is not just one-off incident of power failure in town.
Several complaints have come from residents of different parts of Mapusa on frequent power interruptions almost every single day.
“Power failure has now become a regular feature in Mapusa. We face power interruptions every single day. It could be for five minutes or half an hour but the fact is that power does go off almost every day in our area,” said Suman Karade, a resident of Duler, Mapusa.
“Erratic power supply is a huge problem in Mapusa. Power goes off almost every day. Complaints to officials are of no use as they come out with one excuse or the other,” said another resident from Ansabhat, Mapusa.
Incidentally, department officials have a choreographed response when queried on power failure with either “feeder is faulty” or “jumper has snapped”.
Ward councillor of Ektanagar, Sainath Raul informed that the junior engineer from the area refused to attend to calls of distress when power failed in the area on Friday night.
“The JE of this area refuses to take calls and is very arrogant with people who raise problems of power failure with him,” Raul said.
But sources in the department informed that Mapusa has been saddled with ageing power infrastructure which needs urgent replacement.
A senior official in the Mapusa electricity department informed that power breakdowns did occur at times due to excess load. “Technical faults on transformers do occur for various reasons and once these are rectified, the supply is restored,” the official said.
Mapusa power sub-station has four transformers with a total load carrying capacity of 38 MVA. Besides supplying power to the whole of Mapusa, the sub-station supplies power to Guirim, Assagao, Anjuna, Siolim, Sodiem, Parra and other areas in Bardez.
Mapusa has seen a spurt in construction activity. Many old houses and structures have made way to large building complexes putting pressure on existing power infrastructure.
But there is a silver lining in the dark power clouds.
Work on 2x10MVA, 33/11KV indoor type substation along with associated equipment at Karrasvaddo, Mapusa and an additional 10MVA power transformer at 33/11KV substation at Mapusa were presently in progress.
