Flood leaves 150 Uttarakhand villages without power

DEHRADUN/ALMORA: Over 900 villages across the state had plunged into darkness when cloudbursts and incessant rains hit Uttarakhand on July 1. Of these, around 150 are still in the dark. Senior officials of the Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited (UPCL) said on Monday that the scale of damage to transmission lines was “unprecedented” .

“The strong winds and continued rains snapped many poles and supply lines were also cut. The entire power infrastructure in fact took a hit,” said a top-ranking UPCL official.

According to figures collated by UPCL, 137 villages in Chamoli district, 466 in Pithoragarh, and 317 in Tehri were without power for more than 24 hours after the disaster struck.

“We worked non-stop over the weekend to ensure that power supply was restored at many places. As a result, most of the villages have now started getting electricity. Only 94 villages in Chamoli and 45 villages in Pithoragarh are now without electricity. However, our men are working day and night to fix the technical faults and the transmission is expected to be normalized in these villages as well soon,” the official said.

Pawan Singh, the executive engineer of the electricity department in Pithoragarh, told TOI that their work was being hampered due to “accessibility issues.” “Unless roads are opened, our men can’t reach the transmission lines,” he said.

In many parts of Pithoragarh and Almora districts, several roads remained blocked and communication networks were down. Sources said that a number of prominent roads including the Almora-Haldwani, Pithoragarh-Tawaghat, Kanalicchina-Askot-Dharchula and Munsiyari-Thal highways were closed on Monday due to landslides. A dozen-odd bridges were also washed away further hampering people and vehicular movement.

The direct fallout of the closure of these roads and bridges was on the supply of essential commodities like vegetables and daily goods. “As Almora-Haldwani national highway was closed for the last three days, trucks with grocery and vegetables couldn’t reach Almora. Most of our items are over. It would be difficult for us if we don’t get the supplies by tomorrow,” said Rakesh Tewari, a shopkeeper in Almora.

In Dharchula, CM Harish Rawat’s constituency, telephone networks were down since the past four days. In Munsiyari, the disaster control room couldn’t function because phone lines had stopped working on Saturday. Mahendra Pati, general manager, BSNL (operations), Almora , told TOI, “Our network is not working in Dharchula, because the entire road has broken down. Unless the roads are opened, we can’t go to the affected places to restore network. Network in a few places in Munsiyari and Didihaat have been restored.”

Schools in many parts of Kumaon opened on Monday after the summer break. However, due to roads being closed, children and teachers had difficulty in reaching school.

Yogesh Kumar & Arpita Chakrabarty| TNN | Jul 4, 2016, 10.25 PM IST