)
Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu today said power supply in the cyclone-hit Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts of coastal Andhra Pradesh will be restored by October 25.
Naidu told reporters here that power supply would be restored up to 90 per cent in Visakhapatnam by October 23, in all the mandal headquarters of the three districts by October 22, and in most of the villages by October 25.
Describing the Hudhud cyclone as unprecedented, he said 57 EHT (extra high tension) towers of power transmission corporation had collapsed.
Losses in the three districts were estimated at Rs 300 crore for APTransco, Rs 700 crore for APEPDCL (Andhra Pradesh Eastern Power Distribution Company) and Rs 200 crore for others.
Naidu said physical inspection had to be conducted for 2,700 km of 33 KV (kilo watt) lines, 18,000 km of 11 KV lines, 42,000 km of LT (low tension) lines and 55,000 DTR in the three districts.
The administration has been able to restore power supply to 1 million power connections and power supply has to be restored to 1.3 million connections under EPDCL in Visakhapatnam.
As many as 13,765 engineers and other employees, including contract labour, have been deployed for the electricity restoration work, with 289 cranes and other heavy equipment.
Meanwhile, the death toll in the three districts rose to 50 - 36 is Visakhapatnam, 13 in Vizianagaram and one in srikakulam, Naidu said.
