By Chandrima Mazumdar
About 15 months have passed since the Bangalore Electric Supply Company (BESCOM) took up the job of laying high tension cables below the ground across HSR Layout. This was to eradicate power trippings, electrocutions, and short-circuits due to bad weather. Now, it transpires that the project will take more time. Another project which involved the bunching of low-tension wires above the ground into highly insulated aerial bunched cables is also expected to be complete soon. However, the HT line project in the neighbouring Koramangala is yet to begin.
What is the project?
The multi-phased project was announced across many neighbourhoods in Bangalore and was estimated to cost Rs 5300 crores. This project involved the replacement of all the overhead high-tension cables with underground wiring. There would be no disruptions due to incessant digging of roads; only a few pits would be dug at a distance of a few meters. The project was set to begin from July 2019 and be completed within 18 months. HSR Layout was included in the first phase of the three-phase project.
Bescom also had an ongoing project from 2018 in which the low-tension or the domestic lines were to be bunched together with a highly insulated outer cover, in a process called Aerial Bunching of Cables (ABC). Due to this, the wire would not be hazardous to touch, and the power shortages would not happen even when it rained.
The work so far…
According to a Bescom official in HSR Layout, the underground cabling project is more than halfway through. The laying of underground cables is more than 70% complete, but the charging process is only 30% done. The replacement of overhead cables with AB cables is about 85% complete, and the project will be wrapped up within the next five months.
In Koramangala, BESCOM officials have said that it will take six more months for the underground cabling project to be initiated. The other areas where the work is in different stages of progress are Whitefield and Peenya, among others.
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