As Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy announced that he would rule the State from Visakhapatnam from Vijaya Dasami (last week of October), AP Eastern Power Distribution Company Limited (APEPDCL) has accelerated the completion of the container sub-station at Rushikonda, which is near the TTD temple atop a hill, besides the GITAM university campus.
According to APEPDCL officials, the AP State Tourism Department has sought a separate sub-station at Rushikonda for its needs. The Discom has then built the container sub-station, the second in Visakhapatnam, at a cost of ₹10 crore.
There is a speculation, that Mr. Jagan will stay and operate from the tourism office that is coming up at Rushikonda, which has been mired in controversies ever since the project began. Though there is no official confirmation, reliable sources in the government say that the tourism office is likely to become the CMO (Chief Minister’s office)-cum-residence.
“The sub-station is almost ready and some minor pending works will be completed by the end of this month. It is being built to ensure uninterrupted power supply to electricity consumers in Rushikonda and its surrounding areas,” an EPDCL official told The Hindu.
The electricity service connections in Rushikonda falls under EPDCL Zone-3 office. Since announcement of Executive capital status to Visakhapatnam two years ago, the Zone-3 office has been registering around 20 to 25% more electricity consumers annually since beginning of the capital buzz.
“Yes, we have three zones in Visakhapatnam. The Zone-3 has the highest number of electricity consumers compared to other zones. Zone-1 has 2.78 lakh users, Zone-2 has 3.16 lakh users and Zone-3 has 3.75 lakh electricity users,” the official said.
The official added that the sub-station will also be useful for general residents of Rushikonda, and also the electricity authorities in Zone-3 in managing power load efficiently. There are currently 52 sub-stations in Zone-III and at least 10 are more required to ensure smooth power supply and avoid any overload and short-circuits due to increasing number of service connections.
