Install power supply panel on 1st floor to avert damage: Government

Hyderabad: The Telangana Government has come out with an innovative idea to check the damage of electricity supply equipment in the apartments including the newly coming up into storied residential buildings in the Greater Hyderabad limits.

In the wake of huge damage of the electricity panel boards, set up in ground floors in apartments, reported due to recent heavy rains, State Energy department introduced a new norm under which the new apartments will have to set up the panel boards in the first floor instead of the cellar or ground floor which are more prone to water logging to avoid the power supply equipment from damage.

The officials of Telangana State Southern Power Distributory Company Limited ( TSSPDCL) said that most of the multi-floor apartments in the heavy rain-hit areas in Greater Hyderabad limits suffered huge damage of the panel boards installed in the cellars for power supply to the entire giant building. The damages could be averted if the panel boards are set up in safe place.

TSSPDCL CMD Raghuma Reddy suggested installing the power supply panels in the first floor to prevent any damage due to rains in the future.

All the Electricity supply offices were instructed to encourage the owners of the newly constructing apartments and multi-storied buildings coming up in the entire Corporation limit to install the panels in the first floor. The TSSPDCL also offered free service to those who wanted to shift the electricity panels from the cellar to first floor in the existing apartments which faced power supply disruption due to water logging. The managements of the apartments in the inundated areas were responding positively to the DISCOM initiative to shift the panels to safer places, officials said, adding that it required only 10 /10 feet space to set up the panel units in the first floor. The new rule will made mandatory for all upcoming apartments through an order after getting a final nod from the government.

Apartments which received flood water in the cellars at Barkatpura, Hyderguda, Bandalguda, Pirjadiguda, Ramantapur, Narapally and Nadeem Colony in Golconda were still in the dark due to collapse of the power supply panels .

Water logging in the cellar was the main reason for developing technical glitches in the panels, officials said and added that damaged distribution transformers were being replaced in the submerged areas soon after the water levels recedes.