BHUBANESWAR: As the State administration is still struggling to restore electricity supply in the worst affected Puri and parts of Khurdha district, including in Capital City, the State Government on Wednesday urged the Centre to provide machines for erection of electricity poles.
Even as power restoration works in Puri and Bhubaneswar have gathered momentum and about 3500 gang men are engaged in restoration of power transmission lines, the available men and machinery have been found to be inadequate given the massive destruction caused to electricity infrastructures in the affected areas.
With over 1.56 lakh damaged electricity poles need to replaced, Chief Secretary AP Padhi has requested Union Cabinet Secretary PK Sinha to direct agencies working under the Power Ministry for sending 36 pole erecting machines to the State to speed up the restoration works by reducing physical labour.
Only 3,500 gang men including 200 from Andhra Pradesh and 50 each from Telangana and West Bengal are engaged in restoration works as against a requirement of 10,000 skilled manpower.
The Chief Secretary also requested his counterpart in Karnataka to send 100 gang men to assist the State in the ongoing restoration works in the cyclone-affected areas.
According to reports available with the State Government, cyclone Fani has damaged five 400-KV towers, twenty-seven 220-KV towers, twenty-one 130-KV towers, four 220-KV grids and four 132-KV grids in Puri.
Similarly, 5,030 km of 33-KV line, 38,613 km of 11-KV line, 11,077 distribution transformers, and 79,485 km of low-tension lines have been damaged in the calamity.
With no improvement in the telecom services in the cyclone-affected areas, the Chief Secretary requested Sinha to direct the Ministry of Railways and Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL) to extend their internet services till the situation improves.
Noting that monitoring of relief and restoration works is well neigh impossible without mobile network, the State Government further requested the Department of Telecommunications to take up the matter with all telecom service providers including BSNL to implement the priority plan for quick restoration of mobile and internet services in the affected areas.
While banking services have been partly resumed in Puri, non-availability of power and telecom connectivity is hampering the functioning of some ATMs, he said.