 Early Times Report
CHANDIGARH, May 5: In the aftermath of the severe storms that struck Punjab in the early hours of May 3, Cabinet Minister for Power, Sanjeev Arora, today chaired a high-level review meeting with senior officials of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited to assess the damage, review restoration efforts, and outline future preparedness measures.
The meeting was attended by the Chairman, Directors, Chief Engineers, and other senior personnel of PSPCL. A comprehensive review of the situation revealed that the districts of Mohali, Patiala, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Amritsar, and Gurdaspur were among the worst affected.
Officials informed that while the 66 kV transmission network remained largely intact, the distribution infrastructure suffered significant damage. Around 1,300 eleven kilovolt (11 kV) feeders were disrupted, nearly 1,500 poles were damaged, over 300 transformers were affected, and more than 70 km of HT/LT lines were impacted. Additionally, one 220 kV transmission tower sustained damage. The scale of outages was three times higher than the same period last year, with estimated losses of approximately ?8 crore.
Taking serious note of the situation, the Power Minister appreciated the swift and coordinated response by PSPCL teams, who worked round the clock under challenging conditions. It was highlighted that more than 83,000 complaints were attended to across Punjab, with nearly 70% resolved within two hours, while the remaining cases involved major infrastructure damage requiring additional time.
Due to continuous monitoring, real-time coordination, and extensive feeder patrolling, PSPCL successfully restored power supply to all affected areas within 24 hours, either through the main network or alternate arrangements. Restoration of damaged infrastructure is currently underway on priority to further stabilize the system.
During the meeting, Sanjeev Arora issued clear directions to PSPCL officers to:
Strengthen the disaster preparedness mechanism to effectively handle such extreme weather events in the future.
Undertake preventive maintenance and infrastructure upgradation to minimize disruptions.
Ensure faster response systems and enhanced field-level coordination.
Improve consumer grievance redressal mechanisms for quicker resolution. |
