E-Paper
City goes without power, water
AN ACUTE power and water crisis has hit more than 25 lakh people of the city during the past 72 hours, following a short-circuit in the breaker of Benajhabar sub-station.
AN ACUTE power and water crisis has hit more than 25 lakh people of the city during the past 72 hours, following a short-circuit in the breaker of Benajhabar sub-station.
The magnitude of the crisis could be gauged from the fact that the only medical college in the city and its affiliated hospitals went without power and water.
The Bhaironghat pumping station supplies water to Benajhabar pumping station which in turn supplies 260 mld water to the city after treatment.
However, water supply to the medical college and some areas adjacent to it was restored only on Sunday morning. The most areas covered by the Benajhabar pumping station did not have any supply.
Long queue at public hand-pumps all over the city was a common sight. Women and children had to walk several kilometers to fetch a bucket of water.
Minor skirmishes at public hand-pumps were also reported from several places.
Although the Kesco and Jal Sansthan officials repaired the breaker at the Benajhabar sub-station, the normal water supply to all the affected areas could not be restored even on Sunday morning.
According to a senior official of Jal Sansthan, the breaker was repaired on Saturday night itself.
“But as the rostering started at 7.30 am, the normal water supply could not be restored,” the official added.
The official said that while the rostering ended at 3.30 pm on Sunday, it would take more than two hours to supply water to the affected areas that are located in the far-flung areas of the city, the official said. It was only after 6 pm that some areas of the city started receiving water supply.
