PUNE: In the last 20 days, the underground power cables of MSEDCL have been cut at 36 places during the digging work being carried out by JCBs for road widening being carried out for construction of the flyover and metro in Ganeshkhind and Shivaji Nagar area. Hence, 19,000 consumers staying in Sadashiv Peth, Narayan Peth, Shivaji Nagar and Ganeshkhind are facing problems. MSEDCL has suffered a loss of ₹17 lakh on account of non-supply of power and is facing ire of consumers.
Electricity is supplied to 19,000 consumers in Sadashiv Peth, Narayan Peth, Laxmi Road, Model Colony, Range Hills Road, ICS Colony, Bhosale Nagar, Ashok Nagar, Sakhar Sankul, Wakdewadi, Fergusson College Road, Ganeshkhind Road, Shivaji Nagar railway station area, Hardikar Hospital, Akashwani and Kasarwadi areas through underground power cables from Sancheti Hospital to University Road area. However, in the last 20 days, during the road digging being carried out for road widening, power cables at 36 places have been cut. Hence, consumers in these areas are suffering for no fault of theirs. Every day, power cables are being cut in various areas.
The MSEDCL had requested that the underground power cables be shifted before carrying out the road widening work. However, at present, the road is being constructed on underground power cables. In the future, if the power cables develop a fault, it will lead to a serious problem. The repairs of these cables would be difficult because of the continuous traffic and if an alternate power supply system is made available, the power supply will be affected for a long period. This will adversely affect the consumers and the power utility.
MSEDCL’s engineers and other staff have to work till late in the night for repairing the cut power cables and to set up an alternate power supply system. If an alternate system is not available, then, power supply is being affected for two to three hours.
