Snowfall Hits Power Supply, Most Lines Restored: Officials

Snowfall since early Monday morning affected power supply in many areas in Kashmir Valley even as authorities said that the restoration work was going on and expressed optimism about early restoration.

“Due to heavy snowfall, electric supply to many areas of Kashmir Valley got disrupted. The load of the whole valley dipped below 850 MWs during the early morning hours,” an official of the KPDCL said in a statement.

Out of total 33 KV feeders, he said, 14 were under fault along with four 33 KV Taplines which affected the power supply mainly to Sopore, Kupwara and Handwara area of north Kashmir. Few portions of District Budgam and of District Anantnag were also affected due to the outage of 4 No. of 33 KV lines. In addition, he said, around 215 11 KVfeeders were under fault due to heavy snowfall.

From early morning, Kashmir Power Distribution Corporation Ltd. field teams were mobilized to rectify the faults. Despite the continuous snowfall and braving the extreme freezing temperature, he said, the field teams were able to bring up the load of Kashmir Valley to around 1590 MWs by 3 PM.

It is pertinent to mention that at present only four 33 KV lines which specially feed to Sopore area of District Baramullah and few areas of Bijbehera are under fault and by evening all the 33 KV lines will be charged, he said. “Out of all the 11 KV feeders only 154 feeders remain out due to the faulty status of four 33KV lines.”

MD, KPDCL is himself closely monitoring the situation and assures the public that all the feeders will be up and live, the official said.

Meanwhile, he said, the Managing Director has also praised the patience shown by the public towards the Corporation that may have been affected by the disrupted electric lines that were under faulty since morning and assures the public that the field team of KPDCL won’t rest till all the feeders are up and running.