Kite with steel wire causes widespread power outage

LUCKNOW: Kite flying is a hobby for some, a passion for others but a nightmare for the Lucknow Electricity Supply Administration (LESA) . On Sunday, more than 12 substations witnessed outage because a kite with steel wire caused tripping of Tikait Rai ka Talab (TRT) transmission line, supplying 12 substations which cater to power needs of around 60,000 lhouseholds.

GM cis-Gomti Madhukar Varma said , “On Sunday, a kite snapped power supply of 12 substations just because of some residents’ penchant for using steel wires in flying kites.”

The incident happened in the afternoon when the wire of the kite touched the feeder line resulting in instant tripping inside the power substation. Several localities faced power crisis as 12 substation connected with the line tripped.

For long, kite flying has been associated with the culture of Lucknow. But now this culture of using metal wire is incurring heavy loss as far as LESA coffers are concerned.

The fondness for kite flying in the Old City caused loss worth lakhs annually to LESA, said Madhukar Varma.

“Just because of a kite we suffered on Sunday. In the past, we wrote to the district administration to check kite flying near power substations from where the transmission lines are passing through. The department has even lodged FIRs but due to lack of interest shown by district administration and police, such incidents occur again and again,” he said.

Use of metal wires in kites is banned by the district administration but kite enthusiasts pay no heed to it.