MSEDCL has added two underground cable testing vans to its Nashik zone ahead of the Simhastha Kumbh Mela, strengthening its ability to locate faults quickly and reduce prolonged power interruptions across Nashik and Ahilyanagar districts.
The Nashik zone had been operating with only one testing van after its second vehicle reached the end of its service life. The two new vans have been stationed at the Nashik Testing Division Office in Satpur and will be deployed across both districts according to the urgency of electrical faults.
The additional capacity comes as underground power networks expand across Nashik city and adjoining talukas. Nashik city has more than 100 km of underground power cables, according to a senior MSEDCL officer quoted by The Times of India. About 50 km of cables have been laid underground as part of ongoing Simhastha Kumbh Mela-related works.
The testing vans function as mobile laboratories for underground cable faults. They can identify the location of a fault, determine the route and depth of a cable, and distinguish the damaged line in areas where several cables run together. This allows MSEDCL technicians to excavate only the affected section instead of digging up an entire road or footpath.
The arrangement is particularly relevant in parts of Nashik where cables pass through ducts beneath concrete roads. Locating a fault without specialised equipment can require extensive excavation, increasing repair time, restoration delays, and disruption to roads and pedestrian routes. MSEDCL said the digital systems in the vans provide precise fault locations and help reduce excavation costs.
The equipment, however, is designed for underground networks and does not assist with faults in overhead power systems, the officer said. Its effectiveness will therefore depend on the nature and location of each interruption, as well as the availability of repair crews after a fault has been identified.
Nashik Trimbakeshwar Kumbh Mela Authority Commissioner Shekhar Singh and MSEDCL chief engineer Sundar Latpate recently inducted the vans into service. Latpate said uninterrupted and smooth power supply was the utility’s top priority and that the system was equipped to detect and repair technical faults in underground cables quickly.
The deployment links the city’s event-readiness plans with a longer-term change in the way electricity infrastructure is placed beneath urban roads. As underground networks grow, fault detection becomes an operational requirement alongside cable installation. The two vans will now serve the Nashik zone’s immediate Kumbh-related needs while remaining available for regular technical emergencies in both districts.
