The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Pumping failure at Aruvikkara: KSEB refutes charges

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 27, 2007
ePaper

Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Pumping failure at Aruvikkara: KSEB refutes charges

Special Correspondent

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) has refuted reports that frequent power outages are responsible for the failure of the water pumping station at Aruvikkara.

Only two power outages had happened in the month of April, one lasting one hour and four minutes on April 11 and another lasting four hours and 40 minutes on April 21, said a pressnote issued by the KSEB here on Thursday.

The pressnote said the disruption in power supply was due to a snag in the breakers installed at the 110-kV sub-station at Aruvikkara. The Kerala Water Authority (KWA) had three treatment plants at Aruvikkara fed by separate 11-kV feeder lines from the sub-station. Since these feeder lines were not connected to any other load, the chances of disruption were rare.

The power coming through the three feeder lines reached the 11-kV sub-station of the KWA. Any snag occurring in this sub-station could affect pumping operations. It was up to the KWA to repair any technical fault at the sub-station, the pressnote said.

It said that the power disruptions except on April 11 and 21 happened owing to problems with the sub-station equipment. The KSEB also added that the KWA owed it Rs.596 crore as arrears on power charges up to January this year. "The board also extends concessions for various water supply schemes," the pressnote said.

It added that the KSEB was particularly careful in providing uninterrupted power supply for distribution of drinking water to the people.

It denied reports that the board was responsible for the failure of the pumps at the Aruvikkara pumping station.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Kerala