Bengaluru suffers 4-hour power cut due to heavy rains

BENGALURU: Bescom control room and helplines were of no help as many parts of the city suffered over four hours of power cut on Tuesday evening.
The year’s first rain, accompanied by gusty winds, affected power supply as eight trees crashed and several transformers burst across the city.

The most affected were the residents of eastern parts of the city, including Indiranagar, HAL 2nd Stage, Marathhalli, Banasawadi and Ramamurthynagar.
Frantic calls to the Bescom control room and helpline did not yield any positive response. The government has been claiming that the city is being supplied with uninterrupted power, but the situation on the ground is completely different, the citizens complained.

RTPS units shut
Adding to the problem, two more units of Raichur Thermal Power Station were shut down on Monday. On Sunday, two units had been shut for want of water in Krishna river. With this, power supply to the state has come down by 880 mw a day.

RTPS sources told Deccan Chronicle that units 7 and 8, which generate 210 mw and 250 mw respectively, were shut down on Sunday night. Units 6 and 8, each of 210 mw capacity, stopped operating on Monday. RTPS sources said that the eight units of the RTPS, with an installed capacity of 1,720 mw, require 1 lakh cubic metres of water a day for optimum operation. But it has come down to only 2,000 cubic metres.

Already, the Sharavathi hydel power station, which witnessed a fire a few days ago, has been shut down.