Belghoria: Workers laying Jio cables at a state-run teaching hospital in Kamarhati allegedly ignored an order on how deep they should dig, resulting in the snapping of a CESC wire and prolonged power outage on the premises on Tuesday evening.

Power went out at the College of Medicine and Sagore Dutta Hospital around 4pm and was restored around 8pm after CESC deployed two 250kVA generators.

The snapped CESC cable was fixed late on Tuesday, officials said.

"We had told the workers laying fibre optic cables for Jio Wi-Fi that they should install the wires at 5m below the surface. But they didn't follow the instruction and started laying them at a depth of 3m. Power cables of CESC run at 3m below the ground," said an engineer of the West Bengal Medical Service Corporation Ltd, which is in charge of the upkeep of the 280-bed hospital.

"One of the wires supplying power to the hospital from the CESC substation on the premises got snapped because the Jio workers violated our order."

A spokesperson for Jio said: "The work is being carried out ensuring stringent safety compliance. We are working closely with concerned agencies to bring back normalcy."

Candles and battery-powered lights were placed in the wards after sundown on Tuesday as engineers tried to repair the glitch. Finally, at 8pm, CESC brought two generators of 250kVA each, which were connected to the hospital building to restore power.

The air-conditioning did not work in the intensive care unit and the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) for four hours, till power was restored.

A patient suffering from bronchial asthma, who was brought down to the ground floor for a CT scan, turned critical and had to be revived using an ambu bag.

"As the elevators were not working and there are no ramps in the hospital, he could not be taken up to the ward initially," said a doctor.

The hospital authorities, at a meeting on Wednesday, discussed possible changes to the layout of the power cables in the hospital compound in an attempt to ensure such outage doesn't recur.

"We have not yet showcaused the agency laying the Wi-Fi cables. I will discuss the matter with Swasthya Bhawan," said Goutam Joardar, medical superintendent and vice-principal of the hospital.

Doctors and students at the medical college have long been demanding Wi-Fi facilities on the campus as the local area network (LAN) is apparently "very slow".