KATHMANDU, April 2: Electricity supply has been restored in urban areas of Parsa and Bara through alternative supply system. However, it won't be possible to immediately resume power supply to rural areas, according to Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA).
NEA officials say power supply to hospitals, drinking water offices and other essential services have already been restored using alternative supply
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Electricity supply is essential in hospitals which are crowded with people injured by the deadly storm.
Grid network for power supply in rural areas has been swept away by Sunday's storms. Not a single electricity pole is standing in around Kalaiya. "Transformers have been broken into pieces," Kulman Ghising, managing director of NEA, told Republica.
According to NEA, at least four supply systems are fully or partially damaged. There is no power supply in Parwanipur-Birgunj 66 kVA double circuit line, while Birgunj-Kalaiya 33 kVA transmission line is also damaged. Similarly, Raxaul-Parwanipur Cross-border Transmission Line 132 kVA, which is used to import electricity from India, and Raxaul-Birgunj 33 kVA transmission line are also non-functional.
Kalaiya substation has suffered the most damage. "Some 1,500 electricity poles have fallen and cables snapped. It is not possible to resume supply without rehabilitation of the whole infrastructure,” added Ghising.
NEA's preliminary assessment says a total of 2,000 poles and dozens of transformers have been damaged. Some Rs 100-150 million might be needed to restore the entire supply system, according to NEA officials.
Lack of power supply has also affected services of mobile phone operators in some areas. "Twenty percent of mobile towers were affected due to lack of power supply. We have arranged generators to bring some of them into operation, while some are still out of operation," Pratibha Vaidya, the spokesperson for Nepal Telecom, said. She, however, did not give specific number of towers affected by Sunday's storm.
