Discom says tree-falling big obstruction for Hyderabad power

Hyderabad: The recent thunderstorm in the city cost the power supply department Rs 48 lakh. This bill was to lay new electrical lines at 100 locations, after a large length of live wires and 12 transformers were found damaged due to uprooted trees and flex boards.

On Tuesday, 291 trees fell and hundreds of branches were found hanging on live wires. The department took close to 13-14 hours to restore power supply. 

Officials ended up complaining that pruning trees and lifting fallen branches is not the job of the electricity department and the residents must approach the corporation for it.

A senior official from Telanagan State South-ern Power Distribution Company Limited (TS SPDCL) said, “In the case of Madhura Nagar, 10 trees were uprooted and fell on live wires; around six transformers were damaged. It took the department 24 hours to lay new wires and restore the supply. Trees with dense branches should be pruned and weak trees should be either translocated or their bases strengthened. For each branch fallen, it takes an hour for workers to restore the line. In case of an uprooted tree, it takes more than five hours.”

“Another major issue is flex boards and banners. A majority of the vendors paste flexes to hoardings. Whenever there are strong winds, they fall on the lines. It is difficult to remove those huge advertisements. The pasting is done in such a manner that even a 30 kmph wind can blow them away. We have informed the same to GHMC,” he said.

Following a report which claimed that hoardings are not stable, GHMC is planning to temporarily suspend the permission of hoardings for one month.

TS SPDCL officials informed that the city's electric lines can withstand a wind speed of 130 kmph. But the damage is mainly due to foreign material falling on the lines. Citizens with huge trees in their compound should have them pruned before monsoon begins.