Gurugram: Officials yet to replace 220kV substation five years on

The substation at Sector 77 was built at a cost of ₹48 crore, and a decision was later undertaken to construct a replacement in Sector 75A

Even after over five years, state power department officials are yet to replace a defunct 220kV substation in Sector 77 that was shut following litigation with villagers over land pricing issue after land acquisition. Now, a new one is to be built in Sector 75A, Gurugram, as its replacement.

The entire land package was acquired at a rate of ₹1.5 crore per acre. But villagers later wanted more. Following a court order, per acre’s total cost has now swelled up to ₹44 crore (totaling ₹682 crores for 15.5 acres). Following this, the Haryana government de-notified the entire acquisition process. And the villagers moved to Punjab and Haryana high court and over this (de-notification), hearing is still going on. (Parveen Kumar/HT Photo)

Notably, officials are scrambling to augment the capacity of the several existing substations in Gurugram to mitigate overloading issues and gear up for 2025 summer.

The substation at Sector 77 was built at a cost of ₹48 crore, and a decision was later undertaken to construct a replacement in Sector 75A. But the plan is yet to materialise, Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam Limited (HVPNL) officials said on Saturday.

They said that the Sector 77 substation was originally planned in 2012-13. Later, it was later constructed to provide better power supply to all neighbouring sectors, foreseeing likely power demand as several townships and condominiums were expected to come up in Sectors 69, 70, 73, 74, 75, 76, 78, 79 and Sectors 81 to 95.

BK Raghav, HVPNL superintending engineer, (Gurugram circle), said that had the Sector 77 substation that too of 220kV capacity been functional, power supply in the nearby sectors would have been comparatively smoother than it currently is.

“We are in the process of building the replacement station in Sector 75A for which a proposal has been sent to headquarters. A tender for its construction will be floated very soon. It may start functioning from 2026 which will ease up the situation,” said Raghav.

Another senior HVPNL official explained that to build the Sector 77 substation, Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran had acquired almost 15.5 acres of land in 2012 of which 11.6 acres was provided to HVPNL.

“After completion, it was even commissioned and had functioned before being shut down when the court ordered them to maintain the status-quo,” the official added.

Senior officials said that the entire land package was acquired at a rate of ₹1.5 crore per acre. But villagers later wanted more compensation. Following a court order, per acre’s total cost has now swelled up to ₹44 crore (totaling ₹682 crores for 15.5 acres). Following this, the Haryana government de-notified the entire acquisition process. And the villagers moved to Punjab and Haryana high court and over this (de-notification), hearing is still going on.

A month ago, a joint meeting was held between HVPN and Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam Limited in which it was decided to augment four substations in Gurugram and Manesar before 2025 summer to raise their existing capacity so that the overloading issue with these four substations could be removed and consumers don’t face outages.