India News | Lanka Goes Dark After Nationwide Power Breakdown
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. A massive power outage hit Sri Lanka on Monday, plunging the entire country into darkness for hours and disrupting essential services and businesses following a technical failure at a major power plant.
Colombo, Aug 17 (PTI) A massive power outage hit Sri Lanka on Monday, plunging the entire country into darkness for hours and disrupting essential services and businesses following a technical failure at a major power plant.
The power supply to several areas in Colombo, the Southern Province and Kurunegala was restored after over six hours, while some areas are still affected.
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The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) said the power disruption was due to a transmission failure at the Kerawalapitiya Grid Sub-Station.
Due to the power outage, public has been severely inconvenienced and heavy traffic congestion occurred on several roads in the capital city of Colombo due to the non-functioning road signals.
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Minister of Power and Energy Dullas Alahapperuma visited the Ceylon Electricity Board Head Office to inquire into the matter.
Speaking to media, the minister said all engineers and senior officials are working to rectify the situation and expressed confidence that power will be restored soon, the Colombo Page reported.
The minister ruled out any sabotage recalling that a similar power outage occurred in 2016. However, he said the Secretary to the Ministry has been instructed to appoint a committee to look into the power outage.
Chairman of the CEB Vijitha Herath said that in the process of restoring the power supply, all hydropower plants will be activated first and then other power plants will be connected to their transmission centre.
The CEB expressed regret for the inconvenience caused to the public due to the power outage.
Ruling out the possibility of sabotage, the official said a proper investigation needs to be done to ensure similar outages will not happen in future, the daily reported.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)