Frequent power breakdowns in Hyderabad irk citizens

Hyderabad: Citizens of surrounding municipal areas like Quthbullapur, Yapral, Chandanagar, Narsingi, Peddamangalaram, Rajendranagar and Hydershakote are suffering from frequent power breakdowns.

Some residents said officials have been giving new connections without adding supporting distribution infrastructure, resulting in overloading and tripping of the feeders. They complained that there were no prior intimation about the power shutdowns, which were for three to four hours or more.

“From the last 15 days, the interruptions in power supply have increased. The officials are saying that electric lines have been brought down by falling trees. The work of clearing trees was completed within two days, but even then power interruptions have been occurring regularly,” said Mr A. Ashwinikanth of Rajendranagar.

Residents of surrounding municipal areas too are complaining of unscheduled power shutdowns. “Electricity officials can at least announce the power shutdown timings so that we can plan our works accordingly. Sometimes the overhead tanks become empty and at other times mobile phones run out of charge,” said Ms K. Swapna, a government employee and resident of Hydershakote.

Residents said that the power situation was good till a month back. Though there were power shutdowns earlier too, they were not so frequent as is the case now.
“If repair work is the reason, then officials should explain why the power tripped at night on more than three occasions in Narsingi in the last one-week,” said Mr V. Prabhakar Rao, a local resident.

Chief general manager of TS Southern Power Distribution Company (Discom) Mr P. Naik said there were too many trees in the city’s outskirts, many of which had been uprooted during storms. “Though we had restored the supply on the distribution network within 24 hours after the gale, we had to take power shutdowns many times to erect poles and lay new conductors on several stretches. Citizens should realize that they faced this problem only in the last 15 days. There is no over-loading problem here as the distribution infrastructure is adequate for the existing connections,” he said and added that the power supply had stabilized after erecting poles and conductors.