Hyderabad: A contractor carrying out road widening work on the Mindspace Road allegedly damaged the 220KV DC power supply cables near the Ikea showroom. The line supplied the Erragadda 220/132/33KV and other substations from the 400KV Raidurg substation.
A Transco line patrol team discovered the damage on Saturday.
Transco said it had laid EHT (Entry Heat Treatment) cables all over the city and any agency carrying out work should inform it so that steps could be taken to prevent damage to the cables and avoid power supply interruption. It said it had handed over the map of the EHT cable network along with GPS coordinates to all civic agencies.
“The issue was also being discussed in the city convergence meetings regularly. Despite this, the GHMC took up road widening work without any intimation,” Transco said in a statement.
Transco alleged that a contractor had damaged the cables with a JCB. A Transco source said that because of the damage to the cables, contingency resources were being utilised to supply power to the downstream substations. "With the Assembly Session in progress we have no other alternative supply. With this cable damage, thousands of people in several areas of the city will face inconvenience until it is fixed," a source said.
The repair work could take more than a month as it involves laying of new cables and making joints, which, again, would cause a huge loss and reduce the shelf life of the nework.
A source said the team had now written to the GHMC against the careless approach of the contractor. "We hope strict action will be taken against them to ensure this is not repeated,” the letter said according to the source. Transco hoped to recover the cost of repair, which could go up to Rs 1.5 crore.
Serilingampally zonal commissioner Shankaraiah J was not available for comment.
