Five weeks after Cyclone Nisarga, 184 villages still without electricity

More than five weeks after Cyclone Nisarga made landfall in Raigad and Ratnagiri districts, damaging thousands of houses and crops, 184 villages are still without

More than five weeks after Cyclone Nisarga made landfall in Raigad and Ratnagiri districts, damaging thousands of houses and crops, 184 villages are still without electricity. The restoration of electricity is expected to take one more week.

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Cyclone Nisarga had hit the coastal districts on June 3 and damaged multiple structures, including electricity and mobile poles, leading to the outage of the electricity. More than 1,500 villages in Alibag, Diveagar, and Shrivardhan in Raigad district were disconnected from power. Around 4.2 lakh customers in 628 villages in Mandangad and Dapoli tehsils of Ratnagiri were without power supply after the cyclone hit the villages. Of the 149 villages in Raigad, 35 villages are still without power.

“Of 1,900 affected villages in the district, 1,500 had no power supply after the cyclone hit them badly. We could restore the electricity in almost all the villages barring just 149. The restoration work is being done on a war footing despite the many challenges the authorities came across. Some of the employees, who had come from other districts, especially for the restoration work, tested positive for the coronavirus. We expect the total restoration to be completed within a week,” said Padmashree Bainade, resident deputy collector, Raigad.

Devendra Sayanekar, superintendent engineer, Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Corporation Limited, said, “Around 10,000 houses from four villages in Dapoli and 31 in Mandangad are left disconnected now. Around 8,500 electricity poles and 103 transformers had been damaged, leading to losses of ₹32 crore. We had to bring manpower from other districts like Solapur, Pune, and Sangli to complete the work on priority. At least 800 employees are at work of restoration and expect it to be completed in a week.”

In Shrivardhan, the cyclone damaged crops on 11,430 hectares and damaged 1.83 lakh houses in Raigad. Ratnagiri witnessed damage to crops on 58 hectares, while more than 28,000 houses were partially or fully damaged.