ONGOLE: Power supply has been fully restored to all household consumers in Cyclone Murasu affected areas of the district, with restoration completed in Naguluppalapadu by Wednesday. APCPDCL Ongole circle authorities are now working to restore power to aqua, industrial and agriculture services.
APCPDCL Director (Projects and HRD) TVSN Murthy inspected the ongoing restoration works in various cyclone affected areas, including Uppugundur, Ammanabrolu, Kanaparthi, VR Palem and other villages on Wednesday.
He was accompanied by Ongole Circle Superintending Engineer (SE) Katta Venkateswarlu and other officers. He inspected the damaged electrical lines, distribution transformers, poles and wires in agricultural fields and other power infrastructure, reviewed the progress of restoration and enquired about the measures being taken to restore supply.
He also interacted with staff working at the sites and issued instructions to expedite the works. Meanwhile, the Prakasam district CPDCL authorities have enhanced their preliminary damage estimate to Rs 20 crore.
Explaining the ongoing restoration works and estimated damages, SE K Venkateswarlu said, “Initially we estimated Rs 3 crore worth of damages and later it was enhanced to Rs 5 crore and then to Rs 10 crore. Now our revised estimate has reached Rs 20 crore as about 15,000 electrical poles collapsed or were damaged and the concerned supply lines and other infrastructure suffered damage in the same range. Total 1,400 electricity department personnel took part in the restoration works, including 400 staff from Karnataka, 300 from Tamil Nadu and staff from neighbouring Kurnool, Vijayawada and Anantapur districts.”
APCPDCL Director TVSN Murthy has been staying here and closely monitoring the restoration works at the field level. Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, Energy Minister Gottipati Ravi Kumar and APCPDCL CMD P Pulla Reddy also continuously monitored the works, which helped a lot in speeding them up.
“We thank the government, all our higher officials, field staff and our affectionate consumers who stood with us in this critical time and extended their cooperation and support in restoring power supply. We will restore power to the remaining aqua, industrial and agriculture services and bring the situation to normalcy within a short span of time,” the SE added.