Soyepur and Ramrepur Feeders to Go Off for Pole Shifting on September 10

VARANASI: Electricity supply in a cluster of neighbourhoods connected to the Soyepur and Ramrepur feeders is scheduled to remain suspended on Thursday, September 10, while power poles obstructing a road-widening project are shifted.

The announced shutdown will run from 11 am to 2 pm and affect consumers supplied through the Udaypur and Daulatpur substations. The listed areas include Belwa Baba, Shantipuram, Gajanand Apartment, Lalpur, Soyepur Daitraveer Baba, Sankata Nagar, Paharia village, Paharia crossing and the Kali Mata temple neighbourhood. Residents outside this list but connected to the same feeder may wish to confirm their supply position with the local electricity office.

Pole shifting is one of the less visible stages of widening an urban road. A carriageway cannot be safely expanded while distribution poles remain inside the new traffic line, and moving them requires the existing circuit to be isolated. Crews then have to transfer conductors, insulators and service connections before testing the line and restoring supply. The scheduled three-hour window is therefore an estimate; rain, buried utilities or an unsafe work site can delay restoration.

Households should charge phones and backup lights before 11 am and avoid relying on lifts during the outage. Apartment managers can check generator fuel and ensure that exhaust areas remain ventilated. Shops using electronic payment terminals may want a charged mobile hotspot, while clinics and pharmacies should verify backup arrangements for equipment and temperature-sensitive stock.

Water can become the more immediate problem in multi-storey buildings because pumps stop when the mains supply goes off. Filling normal household storage in advance is sensible, but residents should avoid panic storage that leaves neighbours without pressure. People working from home may also want to save files and shut down desktop equipment cleanly before the cut.

The electricity department and the road agency need close coordination at the site. Fresh poles must be placed outside the final drain and footpath alignment; otherwise a newly widened road can inherit another obstruction. Restored conductors should maintain safe clearance from balconies, trees and construction equipment. Barricades are also essential around open pits, particularly near Paharia's busy pedestrian and market stretches.

Consumers should treat any fallen or low-hanging cable as live even during the shutdown and report it rather than approaching it. Once work is complete, supply may return without a separate warning. The practical test of Thursday's exercise will be twofold: electricity restored safely around 2 pm, and poles relocated to positions that will not have to be disturbed again when the road work advances.