Pesu workers lay a cable at R-Block to repair the 33KV feeder that supplies power to business hubs in central Patna. Picture by Jai Prakash

The normal power supply would be restored in the central business hub of the city by Saturday.

South Bihar Power Distribution Company Limited (SBPDCL) on Friday said a new underground cable was being laid to ensure better supply in the region, reeling from frequent and long power cuts for the past few days. The initiative of the power firm would bring relief to the residents and establishments along Frazer Road, Exhibition Road, some parts of Station Road and the Kadamkuan area, witnessing power cut of at least six to eight hours in the daytime since Monday.

The Telegraph in its August 23, 2013 edition portrayed the plight of the people manning the establishments in the power-starved areas. Business also took a beating because of prolonged power cuts.

The officials of Patna Electricity Supply Unit (Pesu) on Thursday attributed the power pang to frequent rain and a major fault in the 33KV feeder number nine of the Pesu, feeding the Bandar Bagicha power sub-station that supplies electricity to the city’s central business hub.

The 33KV feeder has a patch of around 450m underground cable from Yarpur overbridge to R-Block roundabout. The rest is overhead cable.

“The underground cable is very old and has developed faults at five different points. In order to overcome the problem, the power company is carrying out work on a war footing to lay a new cable. The work would be completed by 8pm today (Friday) and full load would be shifted on it,” SBDCL managing director Palka Sahni told The Telegraph. He said the power scenario in the central business hub would improve from Friday late night itself.

“The new cable would not only be a standby. It would enhance the load capacity of the feeder and the power supply to the effected areas would be stabilised,” chief engineer (operations and maintenance), B.K. Sinha told The Telegraph.

Sinha was asked to visit the site and expedite the work to ensure better power supply in the central part of the city.

The power company official sources told The Telegraph that things would be normal by tomorrow (Saturday) evening because the cable-laying work would be complete late in the night.

Compared to the other days, the power situation was far better in the central business hub of the city on Friday. Sinha said: “We have rectified the fault of low insulation (in which excess heat is generated, leading to technical snag) and have given full load on the feeder number nine to supply power in Dakbungalow, Frazer Road, Exhibition Road and Bandar Bagicha areas. That’s why, the situation is better than yesterday (Thursday).”

He said the feeder developed a fault near a refuelling station close to Institution of Engineers on August 17-18. But it was rectified soon. There were recurrent faults at different locations on the same patch on August 19 and 21 also, Sinha said. The supply was restored the same day to the effected areas through the feeder number seven of Pesu on a rotation basis.

In the event of any defect in the feeder number nine, connected with Bandar Bagicha power sub-station, its load can be transferred to the feeder number seven, feeding Mauryalok power sub-station.