14 March 2016 06:44 am
Deputy Minister of Power and Energy Ajith Perera,who rushed to the scene,told Daily Mirror last night that a key transformer at the Biyagama Grid Station had gone up in flames,and a team would be dispatched to the scene this morning to investigate it.
He said the Government Analyst would also visit the scene to ascertain whether it was an act of sabotage or not.
“This is an unusual situation. We have doubts about it. We want to ascertain whether it is an act of sabotage or not,” he said.
Earlier, Power and Renewable Energy Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya, at a hurriedly summoned press conference in his constituency of Kegalle, apologised to the nation for the second outage experienced this year.
The minister,however,said it had happened before the committees appointed to look into the previous such incidents had submitted their reports identifying the cause.now,he said,the scope of these committees would be extended to examine yesterday’s incident as well.
Apart from natural and technical reasons, he said, his ministry would investigate whether there could be some other reason for the blackouts. The minister had called for a special meeting with the relevant officials.
Ministry Secretary Dr.suren Batagoda said the blackout was experienced from about 2.15 pm.
He said the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) had restored the power supply twice but it had tripped on both occasions.the supply was restored by 10.00 pm in Colombo and some other areas.dr.batagoda said power had been restored to 80 percent of the country by 10.00 pm. “We are doing it gradually,”he said. Due to the power failure,the water purification plants in Ambatale and Biyagama were at a standstill for several hours, restricting water supplies to the Colombo and Greater Colombo areas.(Kelum Bandara)