State gropes in dark as long power-cuts prevail

Hyderabad: Heavy rains and gales brought back disruption in power supply for about 5 to 7 hours, similar in the just-concluded summer people have experienced in Telangana. While blasting off of transformers due to simmering heat waves was the main reasons for disruptions in summer, the power utilities have put snapping of electric wires as the main reason behind the continuous power cuts in Greater Hyderabad and other major towns in the State in the last one week.

In the State capital, posh residential colonies with a lot of trees around bore the brunt. The high tension electric wires passing through the areas were cut off after felling the tree branches truncated due to heavy winds on the poles. The TSSPDCL (Telangana State Southern Power Distribution Company Limited) officials said the travails due to power cuts were unavoidable in the city because the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) prohibited chopping of the trees under the WALTA (Water, Land and Trees Act) in the city.

The only option before the utility was to reduce the number of hours the colonies experienced disruptions during rainy season by repairing the damaged power networks in a short time. Special teams have been formed in every locality to remove the felled trees and resume power supply.

In other municipal corporations like Warangal, Nizamabad, Karimnagar and Khammam and district headquarters, the utilities were also poured in complaints from people. Snapping of the electric wires was the main reason for the disruption of power supply for long hours, the officials said, adding that the Operation and Maintenance (O&M) wing of the power utilities had been pressed into service.