Pune: Several areas near the city airport in Lohegaon faced a power outage for close to three hours on Tuesday night after garbage dumped in a nullah in the Kalas area caught fire, causing damage to the cable network.
"Electricity supply was interrupted around 10.30pm on Tuesday night. It caused a lot of inconvenience for residents of Kalas, Dhanori, societies near the Housing Board and Mhaske Vasti. There was a total blackout for at least three hours," said Satish Dhapke, a resident of Kalas.
A Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Co Ltd (MSEDCL) spokesperson told TOI that the fire caused damage to underground cables from six substations. The power utility was able to restore supply to some areas immediately through a back feeder. Cables coming from Dhanori, Porwal Road, Brahma SkyCity, Santnagar, GREF Centre, Rohan Mithila, Mohanwadi and Techpark VSNL substations were damaged due to the blaze.
Local corporator Suhas Tingre said, "On Tuesday night, I received several complaints from residents of Yerawada, Dhanori and Lohegaon regarding power cuts around 10.30pm. We coordinated with MSEDCL officials and they were working through the night to resolve the issue. Finally, electricity was restored in early in the morning in a phase-wise manner."
Last year, another instance of a major power cut had occurred due to a garbage fire in a nearby area, impacting power supply to nearly 1.42 lakh residents in the same localities.
Dighi resident Pankaj Kamble told TOI that the electricity outage lasted almost throughout the night for them, and highlighted that this is not the first time they are dealing with power cuts. "Although this is a one-off major instance, there are also regular power cuts in our area that last for one or two hours. The administration should prevent such incidents, especially when there are already water cuts we are struggling with. It will be very difficult to cope if the water and power cuts coincide," said Kamble.
Yerawada resident Suraj Patidar said, "Night-time power outages cause significant inconvenience to residents. Families are left without fans or AC in hot and humid weather, making it difficult to sleep. Senior citizens, children and patients who depend on electrical medical devices face additional hardship. Many people do not have inverters for power backup. Frequent disruptions also raise safety concerns as streets and common areas become poorly lit after dark."
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