‘Power back in most of cyclone-hit villages’

Gandhinagar: The state government said on Thursday that electricity has been restored in 4,917 of the 4,945 villages which had been left without power because of cyclone Biparjoy. In addition, power supply has been restored in all the 35 towns of 10 districts which had faced power outage.An official statement said that power restoration operation in the remaining 28 villages has not started because of heavy waterlogging around power distribution lines and supply of electricity will be restored in these villages as soon as the water recedes.Power companies have suffered an estimated loss of Rs 1,013 crore due to damage to power towers, power poles, power lines, transformers and power connection service cables because of the cyclone, the statement said.A total of 1,089 teams with more than 6,000 workers from GETCO and all DISCOMs were working round the clock with all resources for restoration work in these districts, the release stated.Supply to farmers in eight districts has been restored to the extent of 90%. Power restoration in of Kutch, Devbhumi Dwarka and Jamnagar is will be completed by June 30, the statement added.