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Bharatpur, Alwar rural areas will have to wait for 3-4 days for power

Hindustan Times, Jaipur | By, Jaipur
May 04, 2018 09:52 PM IST

Discoms have launched work on a war-footing to restore electricity supply in the affected areas.

The rural regions of Alwar and Bharatpur districts will have to wait for three to four days for restoration of electricity supply that was disrupted after high-speed dust storm tore through parts of Rajasthan Wednesday night.

Authorities salvage a hoarding, damaged in Wednesday night's massive storm, near Bharatpur district of Rajasthan.(PTI)
Authorities salvage a hoarding, damaged in Wednesday night's massive storm, near Bharatpur district of Rajasthan.(PTI)

At least 36 people lost their lives and over 100 were injured as winds over 100 kmph wreaked havoc in Bharatpur, Alwar, and Dholpur districts leaving behind a trail of destruction, uprooting hundreds of trees and electricity poles. Major damage was reported from Alwar and Bharatpur districts where trees fell and power cables snapped, plunging many localities and hundreds of villages into darkness.

“We have started restoring supply in urban areas in a phase-wise manner, but it will take three to four days for the power to be restored in rural areas of Alwar and Bharatpur. More than 7,000 poles have been uprooted in Alwar and another 6,000 in Bharatpur. In addition, about 1,500-2,000 transformers have been damaged,” Jaipur Discom managing director R G Gupta said.

“The situation in Dholpur is comparatively better and power has been restored in about 75% area. The discom has suffered an estimated loss of about 40-50 crore,” he added.

Power discoms have launched work on a war-footing to restore electricity supply in the affected areas, while the administration is conducting a survey of damaged properties.

State power minister Pushpendra Singh said that arrangements have been made for supply of 13,000 poles apart from transformers and other material. The priority is to restore supply at buildings that cater to essential services. Power supply has been restored in district government hospitals in Alwar and Bharatpur.

In Alwar, more than 100 trees were uprooted and many fell on stationary vehicles and snapped electricity cables. Bharatpur also suffered major damage in terms of loss of lives and infrastructure. The strong winds and rain damaged electricity poles, many of which were uprooted, disrupting power supply.

State disaster management minister Gulabchand Kataria Rajasthan Home said efforts to bring back water and electricity supply in the three dust storm-affected districts of the state have picked up pace and claimed that relief was provided in minimum time. He said the government has added dust storm in the list of calamities under the State Disaster Relief Fund.

Asserting that the BJP government has worked to provide relief to the affected families in minimum time, Kataria said, “I challenge the Congress to put forth the records if they had provided relief to affected families in such a short span of time.”

“Work to estimate the damage caused by the storm is still on,” he said told reporters in Udaipur.

Chief minister Vasundhara Raje visited Bharatpur and Dholpur districts to condole the families affected by the dust storm. Official sources said the government has provided 4 lakh each to the family of the deceased.

Amid repair and relief work, the meteorological department has warned that another powerful dust storm would sweep parts of the Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh this weekend.

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