High-voltage cable at Udyog Vihar catches fire, inquiry ordered

A high-voltage electricity cable near a 66kv substation in Udyog Vihar 4 caught fire on Wednesday afternoon, triggering panic among residents and causing a power cut.

The cable, which caught fire, belonged to Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) — the power distribution company. Located a few metres away from the cable, the 66kv electricity substation belonged to the Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam (HVPN) — the transmission agency.

While the reason for the fire is yet to be established, local residents said the fire was doused by the DHBVN response team soon after they were informed of the incident. Officials said it took 40 minutes to douse the fire which led to the power outage at 2.15pm for 45 minutes.

Sachin Yadav, executive engineer, DHBVN, said, “This was not a big fire at all. We managed to douse it in less than 30 minutes and restored electricity in the area in 40-45 minutes. I have ordered an inquiry into the incident in three days to establish reason of the fire so that action can be initiated accordingly. However, we believe fire broke out accidentally.”

Bhawani Shankar Tripathy, a resident of Sector 23A, said, “I saw a fire in the cable at 2.30 pm. The cable was lying in a park – gutted almost 50 metres by the time I spotted it. I clicked videos and pictures and sent to DHBVN and HVPN officials and also to officials of Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) – garbage was lying just near the fire. I cannot say how and when the fire started but this is negligence on part of all agencies. I believe this is 11000 volt electricity cable/wire and more than 100 metre was damaged.”

Ashok Kohli, president of Chamber of Industries Udyog Vihar, said that the DHBVN was quick in its response. “We should appreciate DHBVN men for dousing fire that could have resulted into major incident,” he said.