Rain havoc: 8 villages in dark since Friday

Bengaluru: As many as eight villages ( 600-700 houses) in Sakleshpur and Kodagu divisions that comes under Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Company Limited (CESC), are without power supply since Friday due to heavy rains.

The staff are working day and night amidst fear of wild elephants and leeches in the deep jungle to restore power supply to domestic consumers. In Sakleshpur division, according to a senior official, rains have uprooted 68 electricity poles besides damaging 13 transformers in the last three days. While taluk centres have got electricity, remote villages are yet to get it. Power supply had been restored in 90 per cent of the affected areas with work on in other places.

The worst-hit is Kodagu district where 1,250 electricity poles were damaged and 90-95 transformers  malfunctioned. The total length of the electricity line in this division is around 15,000 km and the staff are working in incessant rains to restore power supply. The biggest challenge for them is to restore power supply to houses which are situated in remote places. 

Transporting the new electricity poles is proving to be difficult due to the rough terrain and presence of pachyderms. Besides, the menace of leeches in coffeee estates and forest areas is hampering restoration work, a senior officer told Deccan Chronicle. He said the division was facing severe shortage of manpower as local contractors were not co-operating with the department to spare their men to carry out restoration work in the hilly terrain. 

Even linemen from Mysuru division who came to assist the local staff, found the situation grim after they were reportedly bitten by leeches. As a result, they were forced to work with whatever staff was available in the division. Many of them are working in pitch dark areas inside the forests to find line faults  despite heavy showers.

The officer said of the total 600-700 houses, some have power generators to pump water and for essential lighting needs. The biggest problem, residents were facing was recharging their mobile phones. Since Friday, these people were out of bound as their mobile phones had gone dead.

“It’s really a challenge..but we are leaving no stone unturned to restore power supply at least by Thursday. We are working in the heavy downpour. I can only request people to co-operate with us for a day”, the officer added.