Power, water crises afflict storm-hit city

The storm on Friday evening caused severe disruptions in power in several areas of the city which has in turn led to a water crisis due to low water production and non-functional water pumps. 

Lieutenant governor Najeeb Jung summoned an emergency meeting of the senior officers of power department and Delhi Jal Board on Saturday to take stock of the situation and directed them to restore normal power and water supply by Sunday. He also instructed the divisional commissioners of districts to survey and assess damage to life and property with the direction that ex-gratia relief should be granted to the affected families soon.

According to senior DJB officers, the water treatment plants (WTPs) could produce only 681 MGD, which is 154 MGD less than their daily production causing water scarcity in several areas. The sewage treatment plants were also forced to discharge untreated water in the river due to interrupted power supply. ‘The production of power from our power generating stations has been restored to normalcy but supply is being hit due to damage of two major 220 KV lines that supply electricity to Delhi,’ said spokesperson of Delhi government. 

According to the power department, five towers of high tension lines were damaged on Bawana-Rohini transmission line while four towers were damaged on Bamnauli to Papankala transmission line which supply power to BRPL. ‘We are trying to maintain power supply through alternate routes but rotational power cut will have be carried out in several areas,’ added the spokesperson.

‘Jung took stock of the situation and directed them to restore normalcy at the earliest. As many areas remained without electricity till late on Saturday morning, pumping stations could not function which led leading to no water supply in many areas like Deoli, Sangam Vihar, Najafgarh, and several areas of Dwarka and Rohini. According to power department some areas like Dwarka, Rohini, Jahangirpuri and some parts of east and outer Delhi faced complete black out on Friday night as power supply restored after 17 hours. 

At least 14 people were killed and 15 hurt in Delhi because of the storm. The traffic police informed that hundreds of cars and other vehicles were damaged due to trees falling on them and collapsing walls. 

Efforts were on to fix traffic lights which went off due to faults or snapping of power cables, they said.

Water supply was reduced by more than 80 per cent in Green Park, Munirka, JNU, RK Puram, Moti Bagh, Hauz Khas as well as parts of the NDMC area, Mehrauli, and Kishangarh. The water supply was also badly affected in South, South West, North, North West, and parts of NDMC area.