Energy Minister says 98% power restoration works completed in cyclone-hit areas

Energy Minister Gottipati Ravi Kumar has said that over 98% of the power restoration works have been completed in the areas affected by Cyclone Montha.

Addressing the media at his camp office at Tadepalli on Friday, Mr. Ravi Kumar said that Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had anticipated the cyclone impact and immediately alerted the administration, public representatives, and citizens to stay prepared. This helped in mitigating the impact, the Minister said.

Around 1,500 staff from the three DISCOMs were deployed in the affected regions on special duty. Senior officials were assigned to Visakhapatnam, Machilipatnam, and Bapatla, which were the most affected areas, to ensure that people did not face any inconvenience.

Gales caused extensive damage to electric poles, conductors, and transformers. A total of 12,500 new electric poles were installed, 2,900 km of conductors were replaced, and nearly 3,000 transformers were repaired / reinstalled, he added.

Power supply in areas like Nellore, Kavali and Machilipatnam was temporarily shut down as a safety measure and was restored immediately after the conditions improved.

The Minister mentioned that household power supply was fully restored across the State, while agriculture and aqua connections were in the process of being restored in the next 48 hours.

He appreciated the employees of the power utilities for working with dedication during the cyclone and pointed out that many of them were on duty continuously for 48 hours without rest.