Power cuts plunge Ukl into pitch darkness
Source: The Sangai Express / Mungchan Zimik
Ukhrul, November 02 2020:
Frequent power cuts in Ukhrul have left the people reeling in darkness with no signs of respite despite the numerous complaints and demand for more regular power supply.
During a brief interaction with this correspondent a number of young students highlighted their woes and narrated how their online classes have been regularly disrupted due to the poor power supply.
With no power supply, it is regular for the battery in the smart phones and laptops to conk out leaving the students high and dry, they said and added that with schools yet to open, online classes are the only way to keep themselves updated.
Many others too have to appear for online exams but the extremely erratic power supply has splayed spoilt sport, they added.
A young student, Philasing said the complete black out in the last two days meant that she was unable to incomplete her home assignments on time.
Another student said that he had to pay Rs 20 to charge his mobile handset at a place which has a generator.
The frequent power cuts have added to the woes of the COVID-19 pandemic, they added.
Meanwhile vice president of Tangkhul Naga Long, Tuisem Kamkara said that they have been mounting pressure on the Electricity Department to resolve the power problems in Ukhrul district.
Electricity is indispensable in the contemporary world, everything runs on it, he added.
Tuisem said that TNL will have to sit down with the employees of Ukhrul Electricity Department to work out the modalities on how to improve power supply in the district.
Irregular power supply for many months has directly affected our day to day life, stated Tuisem.
On the other hand, the Electricity Department, Ukhrul said that the chamber/ HT wire snapped somewhere in between Yainganpokpi and the KV 132/33 KV station at Hundung due to incessant rain in the last few days.
Although the fault has been zeroed in, it has been difficult to rectify the same due to the heavy rain, said the Electricity Department.
Initially the snapped chamber/HT wire was fixed yesterday and power supply was restored, but again the incoming power line tripped somewhere at Hundung sub-station area.
It was only at about 5 pm today that electricity was restored.
According to department officers, erratic power supply in the town is mainly due to overload in transformer.
Increase of illegal connection is the main factor of overloading and this can impact on the transformer, they said.
Shortage of staff particularly in the technical section has made it more difficult to rectify any breakdown, said a source.