Jamshedpur: The Jharkhand Urga Vikas Nigam Limited ( JUVNL) command areas in the city and its adjoining areas were facing power crisis due to a technical snag at the Golmuri power grid sub-station.
Sources in JUVNL said that the sub-station was unable to distribute power resulting in electricity crisis at several areas .
The most affected areas were Mango and Jugsalai localities, where residents had to confront with erratic power supply. The JUVNL consumers also complained of voltage fluctuations at several other places.
A JUVNL official, G K Singh, posted at Mango office said, ” As only the Gamharia and Golmuri grid sub-stations were getting less power from the Central Load Despatch resulting in power woes at several places. The technical snag at the Golmuri sub-station has aggravated the situation.”
The thunder and lightning which took place on Monday evening also disrupted power supply at several areas like Karandih, Sundernagar, Parsudih, and Govindpur.
Apart from Mango, residents of Jugsalai, Parsudih, Sundernagar and Govindpur were forced to cope with prolonged power cuts. The power crisis has resulted in water scarcity at several places . Residents were unable to operate the pumps to store water in the overhead tanks.
Residential areas in Mango, Sundernagar, Parsudih and Govindpur were severely affected. “Power supply was disconnected at 9am on Sunday and was restored at 3pm. We tried to inquire over telephone but officials were unavailable,” rued Mango resident S.K. Sengupta.
For some consumers, power failure triggered water shortage. “Water could not be pumped to the overhead tanks. We were compelled to fetch water from Jusco taps in neighbouring localities,” Parsudih resident Anil Tiwary
Industrial units in Adityapur and Gamharia also suffered, failing to meet deadlines.
The induction furnaces and rolling mills remained closed due to the power crisis and only a few units, which could
afford generators, could continue production.
According to sources, the CLD in Ranchi, which usually supplies 35MW to Golmuri sub-station, provided only 20MW. Similarly, the Gamharia substation received 30MW-40MW against its requirement of 120MW.
However, a senior official said that engineers had been pressed into service and normal supply was expected to be restored by late evening.
The localities like Jugsalai, Sundernagar, Parsudih, Govindpur, Karandih and several other localities on the outskirts of the steel city also faced tough situations. Blackouts greeted Ghatshila, Mosabani and Chaibasa as well due to collapse.