Nagpur: The Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (MSEDCL) is often blamed for poor power infrastructure and frequent power outages. However, it has come to fore that the discom is not the only govt agency responsible for power outages. Statistics reveal that different govt agencies were mainly responsible as underground electricity cables were damaged 118 times in the last three months, leading to power outages.According to statistics from MSEDCL, between April and June this year, when electricity cuts increased across the city, the power cables were damaged 118 times due to various infrastructure works in the city. In April, the power cables were damaged 28 times, which shot up to 49 in May before slightly coming down to 41 in June. Out of the total, 97 or 82% were caused by other govt agencies, while 12 times it was caused by private entities.“One of the main causes of underground cable damage is excavation work. The govt agencies often don’t inform us about their work, leading to damage to underground cables. If the damage is small, then it gets repaired, but if it is large scale, it takes time, and we have to adjust electricity from back feed. Sometimes even that is not possible, resulting in longer power cuts,” said an MSEDCL official.The statistics revealed that Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) and Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT) damaged MSEDCL’s underground cables 55 times. MSEDCL sources said that NMC was responsible for most instances of cable damage. The data also revealed that MRIDC damaged cables 13 times, MahaMetro (5), NHAI (7), OCW (11), PWD and World Bank division (5), and railways (1).Mahal division, witnessing multiple infrastructure works, including flyovers, being built by different agencies, reported 38 instances of damage to power cables, followed by Congress Nagar division (30), Civil Lines (20), and Butibori (18).MSEDCL officials have urged agencies to increase inter-agency coordination so that such incidents are not repeated.
