Dimapur, May 26 (MExN): The Power Department on Wednesday clarified that the damage caused to the induction motor at M/S BMA Liquid Plant in Naga United Village, Dimapur on May 23 was due to “non-stop operation, and not due to any power issue.”
Submitting a report to the Chief Engineer (D&R), the Executive Engineer of Dimapur Electrical Division Imsenkaba stated that the proprietor of BMA Liquid Plant had “admitted that the motor got damaged due to continuous use to meet the ever increasing demand for oxygen.” The report stated that “it was a great surprise to see the blatantly wrong reports in various media that the Plant's motor got damaged due to erratic power supply.”
However, it did not specify which newspaper or media platform carried the alleged wrong reports.
“We are not certain whether this is due to wrong reporting by the media houses or they were wrongly fed by the proprietor of the oxygen plant” it stated.
The Executive Engineer stated in the report that he had visited the Plant on the night of May 20 along with the Dimapur Deputy Commissioner. “The power availability to the Plant was 22-23 hours per day and the proprietor was found to have been running the plant almost continuously for those hours. Since he had only a single motor, I advised him to take breaks, otherwise the motor would burn out,” the report stated.
According to the report, an inspection was carried out on May 22, where it was observed that the Plant had an installed capacity of 11/0.4 kV, 250 kVA DT and the capacity of compressor motor is a single 150 kW induction motor without back-up or standby unit.
"The plant has no technician to handle and operate the power system. The existing power system setup of the plant is very primitive with no critical components like voltage regulator, capacitor bank, and protective system (apart from Kit-Kat and DO fuse) etc. Backup DG (diesel generator) set was non-functional,” the report stated.
Further, during a departmental inspection of 33/11 kV. 10 MVA Referral Sub-station on May 22, the proprietor was advised to take breaks in running the motor to avoid burnout, the report stated.
Although Power Department had been supplying power 22-23 hours per day to the plant, it was also suggested that the proprietor be ready to operate his DG set for at least 2 or 3 hours in a day, if and when necessary, “instead of simply depending 100% on the grid supply, which at times get interrupted due to rains, storms or other line faults.” The proprietor was also advised to inform and coordinate with EE (E) Dimapur and Chümoukedima, in case of any major problems, the report stated.
As per the Executive Engineer’s report, he along with senior officers from Head Office, Kohima, had visited the plant again on May 22 evening as there were some complaints.
“It was found that the complaints were purely created by the inability to operate their in-house electrical system, such as the tap-changer of their distribution transformer etc. However, we assisted in rectifying their internal problems in the interest of work, even though these were beyond the scope of the Power Department,” the report stated.
As apprehended, the motor got burnt in the evening of May 23, due to non-stop operation, and not due to any power issue, it added.
