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Gujarat: Power supply to cyclone-hit Jafrabad, parts of Una, 450 villages yet to be restored

While restoring electricity supply in the affected areas, priority is being given to Covid hospitals, water works, oxygen plants and mobile towers, Energy Minister Saurabh Patel said.

Gujarat, Cyclone TauktaeWomen use conductors of a power distribution line as string to dry their clothes, in Rajula town of Amreli district on Wednesday. (Express Photo)

Cyclone-hit Jafrabad, parts of Una town and 450 villages are the only areas where power supply is yet to be restored, the Gujarat government said Wednesday after a review of the electricity supply restoration work at a cabinet meeting in Gandhinagar.

“Apart from Jafrabad, no other town is without electricity. Today, power has been restored in Rajula, while in Una, electricity has been restored in 90 per cent areas. We are targeting to restart power supply to Jafrabad by May 28,” Energy Minister Saurabh Patel said.

Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, meanwhile, told media persons that power supply to 450 villages in cyclone-hit areas is yet to be restored. “In the last six days, we have restarted all roads that had been closed due to obstructions caused by cyclone. No village remains disconnected. The maximum damage has happened to electricity network… About 10,447 villages had lost power supply,” the CM said.

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The Power Grid Corporation of India, he added, has flown in a 100-member team from West Bengal to help restore power supply in the cyclone-hit areas, which includes a 220 KV transmission line that remained dysfunctional after transmission towers collapsed in the cyclonic winds.

While restoring electricity supply in the affected areas, priority is being given to Covid hospitals, water works, oxygen plants and mobile towers, Energy Minister Saurabh Patel said.

Festive offer

“Power supply to Covid hospital in Rajula will start Wednesday, while power supply to Covid hospital in Jafrabad will remain pending,” Patel said.

The Jafrabad hospital is currently managing its power supply using diesel-powered generator sets, he added. The Jafrabad facility is among the four such Covid hospitals that are currently using diesel generators to manage power supply.

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Patel said apart from 150-odd mobile towers in Rajula and Jafrabad, all 3,205 mobile towers have been provided with electricity supply. “In Amreli circle, we have sent 656 gangs (or teams), in Bhavnagar circle a total of 352 teams are working to restore power. More than 10,000 workers are there in Amreli and Bhavnagar,” he added.

Referring to the restoration of power supply to agriculture sector before the Kharif season, the energy minister said, “Of the 4,800 agriculture feeders that were shut, 3,547 feeders have been restarted. Only 1,254 feeders that remain are in Amreli, Gir Somnath, Bhavnagar, Botad and Rajkot.”

Patel added that over one lakh electricity poles supplying power to the agriculture sector have been damaged. “We are sending 8,000 lamp posts daily to Amreli alone for the last three-four days,” he said.

First uploaded on: 26-05-2021 at 20:18 IST
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