A woman and a boy try to cross a road amid rain at Dakbungalow Chowk in Patna on Monday. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh

Patna, June 20: Technical snags triggered by intermittent rainfall over the past 48 hours have hit the power supply in the state capital.

The first monsoon shower has provided much-needed respite from the blistering heat, but the disruption in power supply it has caused has thrown residents’ lives completely out of gear.

The rain caused burning of distribution transformers (from which common consumers receive electricity supply) and 11KV feeders at different places. “Around 15-16 transformers were burnt in the incessant rain owing to insulation failure. This has affected around 50,000 people. Moreover, rain has also damaged 11KV feeders at many places because of which people had to face power cuts for a few hours,” Patna Electric Supply Undertaking (Pesu) general manager-cum-chief engineer SKP Singh told The Telegraph.

On consumers facing frequent and long power cuts, Singh explained that the power supply of a particular area has to be stopped for replacing a burnt transformer and that’s why people in adjoining areas, too, face loadshedding.

Another reason for power cuts is the breakdown of the 33KV and 11KV feeders of which the latter is much more affected owing to rain coupled by gusty winds, Singh said. He claimed that there are few areas where power supply is not available for longer period of time.

Residents in almost all parts of the state capital had to face load-shedding for around four to five hours on a rotational basis .

Some of the areas in western Patna which faced longer power cuts of around five to six hours included Ashiana Nagar, Samanpura, Rajiv Nagar, New Patliputra Colony, Nehru Nagar, Kesri Nagar, Indrapuri, Mahesh Nagar, West and East Patel Nagar Boring Road, Boring Canal Road among others.

Residents of eastern and central Patna too faced the problem of load-shedding owing to the problem in the power transformer of Fatuha super grid sub-station for more than two weeks.

The most affected parts in the eastern and central part of Patna were Rajendra Nagar, Gulzarbagh, Patna City, Kankerbagh, Ashok Nagar Bahadurpur, Agamkuan, Hanuman Nagar and Gaighat.

Bihar State Electricity Board spokesman told The Telegraph: “We were supposed to start the grid sub-station today but rain played spoilsport. We will try to start the Fatuha grid tomorrow. If that happens, power would be restored in the area.”