Power cut exemption orders go for a toss

Hospitals were among other 17 establishments that were supposed to have uninterrupted power supply PATAN AFZAL BABU Hyderabad: An official order that wanted Discoms to exempt public hospitals from official power cuts has gone null and void in practice. The complacent attitude of the officials of State power utilities and the hospital authorities has come to the fore, as nobody thought of implenting the order seriously. The order issued by AP Electricity Regulatory Commission (APERC) on September 7, last had spared around 17 establishments of public importance from the power outages till March 31. But, the directive was never taken seriously. All the government hospitals including PHCs, secondary and tertiary have been facing the power cuts from the day (March 1) it has been imposed on the domestic sector; more ironic is that there was no prior intimation from the power utilities. When asked about non-exemption of hospitals from power outages, the CPDCL officials said that although there were orders but the exemption of hospitals was not possible as there was no separate transmission network and feeder facility installed for the hospitals. And no request was received from any hospital authorities to install separate power supply network ever since the Commission issued orders under Restriction and Control (R and C) measures. The officials said that if the hospital authorities forwarded a proposal requesting for the strengthening of transmission network, the CPDCL would look into it seriously and expedite it. Defence establishments, railway services, irrigation projects, fire stations, lift irrigation projects and drinking water supply schemes were among 17 categories exempted from power cuts in the State.