Calcutta: The city airport’s terminal remained without regular power supply for more than 24 hours since Thursday evening and at least 40 outgoing flights were delayed, 30 of those on Friday morning.
A 33kV power supply line of CESC got snapped during construction work for Metro Rail. Diesel generators were used as back up, but those were tripping frequently, which led to conveyor belts stopping, said officials. Airlines said many baggage could not be sent because of malfunctioning of conveyor belts.
Water supply was affected, too, and large parts of the building were dimly lit. Airport officials said this was the longest period the terminal did not have regular power supply.
The problem had started around 6pm on Thursday, when the 33kV line got damaged, and continued till late on Friday. Airport and CESC officials said it would take till Saturday morning to repair the cable and restore power supply.
The airport, CESC sources said, has two points of supply from the utility, both 33kV. One of them powers the air traffic control, runways and allied infrastructure. The other powers the terminal lights, passenger facilities, escalators, elevators, conveyor belts, etc.
The first point was unaffected. The second point — comprising a main feeder, an alternate feeder, a communication cable — was damaged on Thursday night. “The alert came immediately. A Metro project is underway there…. Work began on a war-footing… and has been on all night, even through the day,” said a source in CESC.
He said the condition of the site was such that a drain had been overflowing and inundating the lines with water, which had been delaying work.
28/11/20 Telegraph
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