New tech to detect underground power cable faults

Porvorim: Power minister Ramkrishna ‘Sudin’ Dhavalikar said in the assembly on Monday that a machine with Austrian technology has been acquired by the state as a solution to find faults when they occur in underground power cables.

Stating that at present there is very little expertise available locally to detect faults in underground cables, Dhavalikar said that the fault-finding machine can detect any defect for up to 25km. Margao MLA Digambar Kamat, raising the issue, said that though underground cabling of power lines reduces faults and the quality of power supplied is better, there is a delay in the state in attending to faults that occur in underground power cables. He said that 77 cable faults in Margao is not yet repaired.

“Power department engineers should be present when the roads are dug up by other departments. If they are not present, how will they know? Empanelled contractors should be available to fix defects in underground cables,” Kamat said.

Dhavalikar said that work is presently on to mark underground utilities like power lines, sewerage lines, and water lines. “It will be done division wise and their drawings will be available for the public to see. Carrying out work on the joints on these lines is a specialised job. We do not have persons in our department for it at present. In our department, we should have a team to repair these. Only a few agencies are available in India; we have a maximum of six contractors, and we engage them whenever required. Before Chaturthi, underground faults, wherever they have occurred, will be fixed,” Dhavalikar said.

“It took two days for persons from Karnataka to arrive recently and fix a fault in his constituency,” Santa Cruz MLA Rudolfo Fernandes said.