Residents now would have to worry a bit less during power cuts, as Patna Electric Supply Undertaking (Pesu) has purchased a cable fault locator that would help detect the location of a snag in underground cables.

“We have got a cable fault locator at our disposal. The device would help us to locate faults in underground cables in urban Patna,” Pesu general manager-cum-chief engineer Vijay Kumar said.

The price of the equipment is around Rs 1.5 lakh.

Pesu had issued a tender in October to purchase the device after the undertaking faced problems in dealing with such glitches in July and August. With around 3.5 lakh consumers, Pesu covers a good amount of area with underground cables.

“Snags in overhead wires are easily detectable but it is difficult to identify glitches in underground cables,” Kumar said, adding that the device would enable engineers to know the location at which the fault has occurred.

The device would help Pesu in dealing with such incidents, which happened in July and August this year, the chief engineer said. In July, the Pesu team could not detect the location of a fault that had occurred in a 33KV underground cable between Gardanibagh level crossing 15 and the New Secretariat. It took about a week’s time to identify the fault.

The fault badly hit power supply in several upscale areas like Patliputra Colony, Boring Road, SK Puri and others. Sources added that Pesu had then sought the assistance of a Delhi-based agency to rectify the snag.

A similar fault had occurred in a 33KV underground cable network between Jakkanpur and Sinchai Bhavan in August, affecting areas like Bailey Road, Old and New Secretariat, East and West Hardinge Road. At that point of time, the cable fault locator was borrowed from PowerGrid. However, the equipment was out of order and needed repair. Pesu officials had to borrow the machine from the railways to find the location of the fault. The length of underground cable would also be increased.