Chief secretary A.K. Sinha directed the Bihar State Power (Holding) Company Ltd officials to ensure quick restoration of power supply in the event of breakdown after heavy rainfall.

The decision was taken keeping the monsoon in mind.

Sinha, who reviewed the progress work of various schemes and projects being undertaken by the power and distribution companies through video-conferencing on Tuesday, said the disruptions created because of squalls and thunderstorm must be taken care of in a quick span of time so that people get power supply without much delay.

District magistrates and officials of North Bihar Power Distribution Company Ltd had attended the meeting.

“The power supply system should be made operational within a quick span of time in the event of breakdown because of heavy rain/ thunderstorm/squall and other reasons,” Sinha said, while directing the power company officials to carry out line patrolling work in the night to reduce the hours of disruptions in power supply.

He added that action must be taken against employees and officials, who show apathy in installing new poles that have been uprooted in the squall or heavy downpour. “All work related to preventive maintenance of distribution transformers must be completed by June-end,” the chief secretary said.

The directives assume significance because monsoon is likely to hit Bihar in a day or two. It has been witnessed that power supply gets disrupted during the rainy season and it takes hours in restoration of supply even in cities like Patna.

Residents of the state capital had a bitter experience of long haul of power supply disruptions twice in the last week of May.

The power supply disruptions took place because of the breakdown following the rain and squall in the last week of May. On May 31, the incessant rain left almost all parts of city powerless for more than 12 hours. Similarly on May 27, the thunderstorm disrupted power supply for more than six hours in various parts of the city.

The chief secretary also directed the officials to speed up the work to achieve cent per cent target of installing and reading meters, generating, distributing and collecting bills on a priority basis.

He also directed the district magistrates to keep a tab on the progress work through weekly review meetings. The district magistrates would keep tabs on maintenance of transformers, reasons behind transformer burns, steps to recover dues from those who owe bill to the power company.

“Transformers should not get overloaded,” Sinha said, adding that new transformers should be installed if required to reduce load. Superintending engineers have been authorised to allow installation of additional transformers, if the need arises, the chief secretary said.