TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PORVORIM: Numerous power outages in many parts of Porvorim is officially being linked to pre-monsoon maintenance and other planned work, but insufficient manpower and infrastructure at the Porvorim sub-station has only added to the woes of thousands of consumers.
Sources at the Porvorim sub-station have stated that poor infrastructure has crippled work at the sub-station, which caters to some 27,000 consumers in Penha-de-Franca, Socorro, Salvador do Mundo, Sangolda, Saligao and parts of Reis Magos and Pilerne.
One source told Herald that the Porvorim sub-station has been provided with only one vehicle and four linesmen. One linesman works in each shift and the fourth is the reliever.
“Power supply gets disrupted due to snapping of lines, insulators failure, etc. Whenever the power supply is cut off, a lot of time is wasted in detecting the fault. The length of Main 33 KVA line, which comes from Tivim to the Porvorim sub-station via Nachinola, is about 20 kms and this line passes through the forest area,” said the source.
“Further, most areas in Socorro and Salvador do Mundo, Penha de Franca and Sangolda are forest areas. Whenever power gets cut off due to uprooting of trees on the electricity wires, the linesmen are required to detect the fault.”
“Before starting repair work, electricity officials have to advise the Tivim power sub station to shut down power supply to enable them to carry out repair work. This precautionary measure is of utmost importance to avoid any casualty,” informed the source.
“As soon as repairs are carried out, electricity officials have to again advise the Tivim power station to recharge the line and as such, a lot of time is wasted in restoring power supply.”
“Given the shortage of staff, a delay can take place when the electricity department receives two or more complaints simultaneously. It is not possible for a single linesman to attend all the calls immediately.”
“In the meantime, if another complaint is received from another part of our jurisdiction, residents of those affected areas have to wait till the linesman completes his earlier work.”
“To reduce the time taken to restore disrupted power supply, the government should provide one more vehicle and additional linesmen to the Porvorim power sub station,” the source added.
