After a fire broke out at the Matatirtha substation during underground line testing, alternative means of electricity have been provided in Kathmandu Valley.
On Sunday afternoon, there was a sudden fire in the breaker panel used to control the power supply in the 11 KV feeder line under the Matatirtha substation of the Nepal Electricity Authority.
Due to the incident, the power supply of the area which is distributed through three feeders was affected for some time. Hitendradev Shakya, executive director of the authority, informed that electricity supply has been resumed in most of the affected areas since Sunday.
Shakya said that the replacement process has been carried forward by bringing the necessary switchgear from Budhanilkanth and Chapali substations. He informed that most of the areas have been re-operated by re-rotating the supply from Suchatar substation for the time being.
'Some wrong information has come out, the supply has already been restored in most of the areas, only a few areas around Chandragiri are left, which area is being worked on vigorously, electricity will be supplied easily in a short time,' he said.
The authority said that the construction contractor should take all responsibility for the fire that broke out during the underground line test. "During the operation of the switch of the breaker panel, the spark caused the fire, the burnt equipment will be replaced by the contractor," said Executive Director Shakya.
The incident has also raised questions about the reliability of the underground cable system under construction in Kathmandu Valley. It has been found that more studies are needed on the stability and potential risks of the underground pipeline system. It seems that necessary technical improvements and risk assessment measures should be adopted to prevent such incidents from happening again in the future.
Executive Director Shakya said that the truth of the technical error will be discovered in the coming days and necessary steps will be taken so that such problems do not recur in the future.
