Hindon flooding shuts down substation in Kanha Upvan, Morti may be next

Officials said the distribution department has made alternative arrangements to feed the feeders which were getting power from Kanha Upvan substation

The flooding of river Hindon has forced the officials of Uttar Pradesh Power Transmission Corporation Limited (UPPTCL) to shut down a major 132kV electricity substation in Kanha Upvan in Ghaziabad’s Karhera, impacting supply to trans-Hindon areas.

UPPTCL officials said the station was shut around 6.15am on Sunday. (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

UPPTCL officials said the station was shut around 6.15am on Sunday and they may soon be forced to shut a 220kV station in Morti as well, if the water level rises several inches towards the electricity panels at the substation.”

The rising Hindon has caused large-scale inundation of floodplains and affected several upstream villages and localities such as Karhera in Sahibabad besides other small localities.

“We had to shut down 132kV substation in Kanha Upvan on Sunday morning while the 220kV in Morti may also be shut if the floodwaters continue to rise-- it is just inches away from the station’s electricity panels. The Kanha Upvan feeds different feeders in Patel Nagar, Lajpat Nagar, Athala, Rajendra Nagar and Nandgram besides supplying to a private site as well,” said Radhe Shyam, superintending engineer (SE), UPPTCL.

The officials said the distribution department has made alternative arrangements from other stations to feed the feeders which were getting power from Kanha Upvan substation.

They added that the 220kV in Morti supplies to feeders in Karhera, Shalimar Garden, Vikram Enclave, Koyal Enclave, Hindon Vihar, Noor Nagar (Raj Nagar Extension, New Bus Stand, Nandgram and Lajpat Nagar besides some feeders of the Railways and Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC).

“If the substation in Morti is shut, it will impact almost half of Ghaziabad city as there is no alternative provision available to supply power. We have deployed tractors which are flushing out water from the substation. If the water touches the panels, we will have to shut the station down. The 220kV substation in Morti feeds the 132kV station in Kanha Upvan and the 132kV station in Mohan Nagar,” the SE said.

The residents in Sahibabad said the heavy rains have impacted electricity supply.

“Currently, we have about 4-6 hour long outages and the situation has been further impacted by the shutdown of the substation in Kanha Upvan. If there are longer outages, our water supply also gets affected as we are unable to operate submersible/motor pumps to draw out water,” said Jugal Kishor, a resident of Shalimar Garden.

“The power cuts are up to two hours now and we are taking precautions such as storing water and keeping our phones charged, in case there is a further shutdown of electricity in the wake of Hindon flooding,” said Dipesh Chaudhary, resident of Lajpat Nagar.

Officials of the distribution department said that they have made alternative arrangements to ensure supply after shutdown of 132kV station in Kanha Upvan.

“The areas covered by the substation are being given electricity from other stations/feeders. The supply has been impacted due to the shutdown of 132kV stationbut we are still supplying power for about 20-21 hours daily. The outages in some areas could be due to local faults,” said Neeraj Swaroop, chief engineer, f Paschimanchal Vidyut Vitaran Nigam Limited (Ghaziabad zone).

The officials of the Ittar Pradesh irrigation department said river Hindon was flowing with a discharge of about 28,066 cusecs at a level of 201.15 metres in Ghaziabad as on Monday afternoon.