New Delhi: Cyclone AMPHAN, which made landfall at the coast of West Bengal and Odisha last week, has made huge disruption in transmission lines in both states. In order to review the progress of the restoration work of power systems, Union Power Minister RK Singh along with Additional Chief Secretary (Power) of West Bengal, Principal Secretary (Power) of Odisha, CMDs of various DISCOMS, Secretary Ministry of Power, Additional Secretary Ministry of Power, CMD of POWERGRID and other senior officials joined via video-conferencing.
Speaking on the occasion, Minister said that the disruption caused by the Cyclone to the power systems was extensive, but the restoration work has been carried out swiftly. He said that the Inter-State Transmission System was restored within a few hours and Central Power PSUs also provided human resources to carry out power restoration of local power supply in the cyclone-affected areas. He expressed confidence that the restoration will be complete in Odisha by today evening itself and the work is in progress in parts of Kolkata and some other districts of West Bengal.
The minister has directed the Ministry that apart from the manpower/assistance already made available they should mobilize additional manpower through NTPC and POWERGRID and make them available to Power Department of West Bengal to assist them in restoration work. They will remain in touch with the State Government, West Bengal, so as to provide them whatever help is necessary.
Backdrop
The review meeting can be seen in the backdrop of the statement of the Ministry of power on last Tuesday that it had put in place adequate arrangements/preparedness to handle power supply situation in the wake of Super Cyclonic Storm AMPHAN. 24×7 Control Rooms had been set up at Bhuvneshwar and Kolkata by PGCIL and NTPC. POWERGRID had set up a 24×7 Control Room at its Headquarters Manesar, Haryana.
The ministry had also assured of all necessary support to State Power Utilities for damages, if any, to State Transmission Lines and other power infrastructure on account of the cyclone. Emergency Restoration Systems (ERS) (32 at 400 kV and 24 at 765 kV) along with adequate manpower had already been placed at key locations which were to be used in case any transmission tower collapses and transmission lines disrupted