Residents of at least 10 localities across Ranchi, including areas like MECON Colony and Satellite Colony, suffered in absence of electricity for nearly eight hours on Tuesday as Hatia Grid was under maintenance, officials from the Jharkhand Bijli Vitran Limited (JBVNL) said.
The power supply had to be blocked from 8am to 4pm on Tuesday as the Hatia Grid was undergoing upgrade as per a national scheme of upgrading all the power grids across the country, Public Relations Officer of JBVNL, MP Yadav said. “The power supply resumed after 4pm. We are upgrading all the power grids as per a national plan. Hatia Grid underwent maintenance and upgrade on Tuesday, so the power supply had to be temporarily blocked,” he said.
Sources from JBVNL said that the Hatia Grid was built in 1962 and therefore it was in need of necessary upgrades. Some equipment in the grid are also being replaced in order to make the infrastructure up-to-date. A similar power blockage is likely on February 8 as the grid would again undergo some upgrades, they added.
Chief Minister Hemant Soren recently took to microblogging website Twitter to inform the people of Jharkhand about the power cuts and requested them to have patience. “Dear, residents of Jharkhand. In the entire State, the work of maintenance and upgrading of all the grids of the State is going on at a cost of Rs 154 crores, due to which you all have to face some inconvenience,” he wrote. “I assure all of you that your convenience and safety is my priority. I sincerely hope that all of you are with us in this work. I apologise for all this inconvenience to you all,” he added.
However, while Tuesday’s power cut was planned, residents in some parts of Ranchi have been suffering due to frequent power failures in the past couple of days. “Some technical faults caused the power cuts in Kokar and Lalpur areas. The problems have been addressed and supply has resumed,” Yadav said.
In the wake of frequent power failures, Chief Secretary DK Tiwari had called for an emergency meeting with concerned officials last month and asked them to ensure uninterrupted power supply in all parts of the State capital. He had also asked JBVNL officials to do all maintenance works during the daytime, so residents do not face problems in the night. However, frequent power failures have been disrupting life in the State capital since the end of 2019.
Kanke, Hatia, Dhurwa, Argora, Satellite Colony, MECON Colony, Dibdih, Tupudana and Harmu localities were primarily affected by the power blockage on Tuesday.
