Noida to spend ₹200 crore to take overhead power cables below ground

The authority will first cover two residential areas that include sector 15A and 47, and industrial sector 3, where factories and government offices are located

The Noida authority has approved ₹200 crore to put electricity cables underground in order to offer safety to the general public. The citizens and the industrial unit owners have been demanding since long that electricity cables be put underground.

Besides posing a safety risk, the overhead electricity cables in the city witness frequent glitches particularly during the rainy season, which ends up disrupting the electricity supply. (REUTERS/representational image)

Besides posing a safety risk, the overhead electricity cables in the city witness frequent glitches particularly during the rainy season, which ends up disrupting the electricity supply. And the people keep demanding that the electricity cables be put underground so as to address the frequent power outages that Noida witnesses during thunderstorms and rain.

“We have approved a ₹200 crore budget for the initial work to move the cables underground in densely populated areas. Once this project will be executed, we will move on to other areas of the city. The objective is to put the electricity cables underground to ensure safety of people and also smooth uninterrupted power supply to residential and industrial areas,” said Lokesh M, chief executive officer of the Noida authority.

The contractor is likely to be finalised in the next one or two months, said officials. The authority aims to complete this project in next one or two years, said officials, adding that the authority would need ₹2,000 crore to shift all overhead cables in the city underground. It is because of that reason that the authority wants to carry out this job in a piecemeal fashion.

“We will take cables underground in three sectors initially and later we will move onto other areas,” said Lokesh M.

The authority will first cover two residential areas that include sector 15A and 47, and industrial sector 3, where factories and government offices are located.

“We have been demanding this for long. Noida is a well-planned city but overhead cables affect its image and power cuts also affect the industrial belt. The authority must do this on a priority basis,” said NP Singh, president of Gautam Budh Nagar district development residents’ welfare association, an umbrella body of residents’ associations.