Andhra Pradesh: Power lines damaged in 57 mandals due to heavy rain

Vijayawada: Due to heavy rainfall in some parts of the State due to Cyclone Nivar, energy secretary and CMD/APTRANSCO Srikant Nagulapalli on Thursday took stock of the situation and alerted officials to be cautious and get prepared to face any eventuality.

The officials of the SPDCL informed the energy secretary about the damage caused to infrastructure due to heavy rains and gales. They said 33 kv lines (154 km), 11 kv lines (426 km), seventy-five 33 kv poles, six hundred 11 kv poles, four hundred LT poles were damaged in 57 mandals due to the cyclone.

The SPDCL staff have restored infrastructure in 38 mandals and the loss of damage was estimated at Rs 1.21 crore. There were no considerable damages of equipment in the jurisdiction of EPDCL and CPDCL, the officials informed the energy secretary.

The secretary asked officials to keep the staff and officials in the districts of Chittoor, YSR Kadapa, Nellore and Prakasam districts on high alert as the IMD forecast heavy rains to extremely heavy rains and surface winds with 50 to 60 kms in Chittoor district. He also said that the officials need to ensure to keep men and material required ready at strategic locations to meet any eventualities and for rectification of works in case of any breakdown, he said.

Srikanth said energy minister Balineni Srinivasa Reddy enquired about the damages and response of the staff in restoring the power in the rain and cyclone hit areas.