Power outage in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad leaves senior citizens, patients and IT professionals in trouble
In a major turn of events, residents of various parts of Pune, Kalyani Nagar, Wagholi, Kharadi, Wadgaon Sheri, and many parts in Pimpri Chinchwad faced power cut for as long as 8 hours. The issue came up when two out of four ultra-high voltage 400 KV power lines belonging to Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL) suffered a technical failure.
The incident occurred at 7:10 pm on Thursday, affecting approximately 355,000 electricity consumers, including those in Chakan MIDC, Nagar Road Division of Pune City, and Pimpri and Bhosari Divisions of Pimpri Chinchwad City. Power is expected to be gradually restored to the affected areas after 10:30 pm.
Sarabjit Singh, a senior citizen residing in Kalyani Nagar told Pune Pulse “Around 7.30 pm on May 18 the power went off. So that makes it nearly 8 hours. The inverter lasted about 3 hours so we were without fans and lights for the rest. The supply was restored at 2.30 AM. To get relief from the oppressive heat, I sprinkled water on my bed.”
The disruption was caused by the sudden technical failure in two channels of PGCIL’s Shikrapur to Talegaon ultra-high voltage 400 KV power lines, impacting various ultra-high pressure substations, including the 400 KV Chakan, 220 KV Chinchwad, 220 KV Urse, 220 KV Chakan, and 132 KV Chakan.
Another resident of Kalyani Nagar, Minaz Cassum confirmed that there were no lights till 2.45 AM on May 19 since 7.30 PM on May 18. She said, “I have survived, inspite of the hardships and being discharged from hospital after spine surgery.
When Pune Pulse spoke to a MSEDCL official he confirmed that power supply is restored at many places. Work at many places is in progress and MSEDCL team is working day and night to restore the supply.
As a result, approximately 396 megawatts of electricity supply was disrupted, affecting around 125,000 consumers in Pune city, particularly in Kharadi, Vadgaon Sheri, Vimannagar, Yerwada, and Dhanori areas.
Areas such as Pimpri, Chinchwad, Punawale, Walhekarwadi, Wakad, Tathwade, Kivale, Ravet, Thergaon, and 50 percent of Akurdi, totaling 230,000 customers, also experienced power interruptions. Additionally, approximately 5,000 industrial customers relying on high and low voltage in Chakan MIDC were affected. However, Chakan city received power through an alternate power line connected to the 132 KV ultra-high voltage substation.
The responsibility for maintaining and repairing the 400 KV power lines lies with the Adani company, which worked on to rectify the fault and restore power supply.Â
