OBRA: A fire broke out at the Obra Thermal Power station of the Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL), leading to the closure of its 200 MW power units on Sunday morning.
The Obra Thermal power station, situated in the border of UP, MP, Bihar and Jharkhand, supply power mostly to UP. Due to the fire, power generation has been stopped from Obra, leading to power crisis in the state.
Officials here said that the blaze started from the switch gear situated in the cable yard at around 0500 hrs and it spread out to nearby areas within an hour. The fire started from underground area and about 12 fire tenders were on the spot to put out the flames.
Due to the fire, the units number 9,10,11,12 and 13 of the power stations generating around 200 megawatt (MW) of power have been shut down. Senior officials of the UPPCL along with district authorities have rushed to the spot.
D M Amit Kumar Singh said that all efforts are being made to douse the flames. He said that the units have been shut down and the employees have been evacuated. The DM said that none was injured in the fire till now.
Officials claimed that UPPCL has suffered major loss in this fire to the tune of several crores of rupees.
They also said that if the fire is not controlled soon, then the entire, Obra thermal power plant, which generates 800 MW of power, would be closed, leading to major power crisis in the state.