Karnataka - Madikeri   

Erratic power supply hits life in Kodagu

Madikeri: Electricity supply distribution has deteriorated in Kodagu. Most parts of Kodagu, including the headquarters Madikeri, has been without power supply since Saturday night.

Senior officials in the Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Corporation (CESC) are, perhaps, not aware of the situation. The work relating to drawing of the 66-kV power line from Ponnampet to Virajpet has led to load shedding every day, apart from power cuts owing to tree falls on lines and fault in the equipment.

“I will speak to the managing director immediately, if you can fax the details of the power crisis to my office,” Minister for Energy told The Hindu when contacted over telephone on Monday.

CESC officials here stated that power supply was disrupted on Saturday night due to tree falls on the Sunticoppa-Mysore Road around 10 p.m. As a result, Sunticoppa, Madikeri and surrounding areas, Murnad, Virajpet, Siddapura and villages situated around these towns went without power.

Managing Director of CESC, Mysore, Vijayanarasimha, to a question, said that he was told by the officials from Kodagu that power supply was restored at 5 p.m. on Sunday. In certain parts of Madikeri and Murnad, supply was restored for about an hour on Sunday. However, it failed and got restored at 10.20 a.m. on Monday only for a few minutes.

“There were bottlenecks between Hootagally and Ponnampet line in the past, it does not exist now,” Mr. Vijayanarasimha said. Local problems were getting aggravated now, he added. There was no shortage of men and material to gear up for monsoon, he said.

CESC officials in Virajpet were not aware of the burnt switchgear and other equipment at Maggula station, near Virajpet, that was causing regular problems in power supply in and around Virajpet areas.

Mr. Vijayanarasimha and Superintending Engineer Shanti had to come down from Mysore to personally supervise repair work a fortnight ago, according to a source.

Srikanth Shet, a jeweller in Virajpet, said that he had taken up the issue with the Principal Secretary, Energy and Chairman, CESC, in Bangalore, who had sought details of the problems. “Kodagu is being considered as a remote, undeveloped village by the CESC”, he rued.

People lacked civic sense and concern, he added. There was no water supply in Virajpet town since three days, he said. Mr. Shet, who is also a local Bahujan Samaj Party leader, says he would stage a satyagraha in the city, if the situation did not improve in the next few days.

“We will even consider organising a bandh in Siddapura,” K.K. Srinivas, who is a trader and member of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said in Siddapura.

The timing of the work on 66-kV line from Ponnampet to Virajpet is wrong. Why should it be taken up in monsoon? he asks. If there is power supply, there is no proper voltage, drinking water supply has been badly hit, he said. The situation is no different in and around Murnad town.

For Roopa Muthanna, a housewife, daily chores have become a nightmare. Preparing her children to school in Madikeri, about 18 km away, is a big challenge to her in the morning in the absence of power supply. Clothes could not be ironed, items stored in the refrigerators are perishing, she complains.

Unexpected power cuts due to vagaries of nature, coupled with load shedding from 5 a.m. to 10 a.m. and from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. exist, apart from shutdowns due to other reasons. Madikeri was without power on Saturday and Sunday.

Burglaries have taken place in a couple of localities. District in-charge Minister, Krishna Palemar, is expected to visit here on Tuesday and hold meetings with the officials.

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