Jamshedpur Power Outages: Heatwave Causes 93 MW Demand Surge, Transformer Breakdowns Hit Kolhan

Jamshedpur: With the mercury hovering at 42 degrees Celsius, electricity consumption has increased tremendously in the Kolhan division. Increasing loads on transmission cables, frequent tripping and transformer breakdowns have caused long power outages in different parts of the city over the past two days.The Jharkhand Bijli Vitran Nigam Ltd (JBVNL) Jamshedpur division officials have said that power demand increased to 93 MW on Sunday and Monday.“Ideally, daily power requirement in Jamshedpur division is 55 MW-60 MW. However, the demand increased to 93 MW,” said Anand Kaushik, executive engineer, JBVNL Jamshedpur division..The official said that power was supplied to the area substations at full capacity without loadshedding; however, due to overloading, frequent tripping was reported and transformers burned out at several places within the command limits.Mango, Adityapur, Bagbera, Birsanagar, Harharguttu and Chotagovindpur reported transformer breakdown causing power outage for long hours on Monday.Electricity officials said trolley transformers were replaced with faulty ones to restore power, and work is underway to repair broken cables at several places.“We didn't have power in the area all through the night on Monday, so we couldn't operate the borewell or sleep properly,” said Raja Hansda, a resident of Bedadipa in Ghaghidih.Similarly, Mohamed Imtiaz, a resident of Gharib Nawaz Colony on Old Purulia Road in Mango, said, “Rather than merely addressing the frequent tripping, officials should replace the faulty overhead lines to ensure a seamless power supply,” he said. To ensure swift redressal of power complaints, Ajit Kumar, general manager of JBVNL, Jamshedpur area, previously announced the formation of dedicated teams at the sub-division level across all seven divisions.