BHUBANESWAR: As lack of electricity supply continues to make life miserable for people in areas hit by cyclone Fani, the State Government has requested the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) to deploy more manpower in Puri district, which suffered maximum damage in the storm.
The State’s request to NTPC was made after a visit of the Central team led by Union Power Secretary AK Bhalla to Puri on Tuesday. The State requested NTPC to take up work at four places in the district, including Nimapada and Gop blocks, for restoration of low transmission (LT) network.
“The State Government has reposed confidence in NTPC and therefore plans to assign some specific localities to the agency for restoration of electricity. I have advised the group to take up the challenge as an opportunity and show NTPC’s ‘can do’ spirit to the stakeholders,” said NTPC Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) Gurdeep Singh.
Meanwhile, NTPC has deployed 950 trained personnel for restoration of electricity in cyclone-affected areas of Puri, Khurda, Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapara districts. “The existing manpower deployed in Puri is too small as compared to the massive destruction of LT lines. It will take a few more days for normalcy to be restored,” said sources in Central Electricity Supply Utility (CESU).
The Central team including Singh, CMD of PGCIL RN Nayak and Regional Executive Director of NTPC Eastern Region-II Sanjeev Kishore visited Puri to assess the impact of cyclone Fani on electrical installations. The team also visited OPTCL’s 132/33 KV sub-stations at Dighalo and Talabania and 132 KV line (Emergency Restoration Tower) near Balighai and Baliguali which were severely damaged in the extremely severe cyclone.
The team reviewed the progress of restoration and held discussions with senior State Government officials including Development Commissioner Asit Tripathy and Energy Secretary Hemant Sharma. The NTPC CMD had a separate meeting with DDUGJY/Saubhagya officials of NTPC at Bhubaneswar. Singh appreciated the efforts put in by NTPC team for restoration of electricity in the affected areas.
He said nearly 5,500 persons have been benefited by NTPC’s mobile medical cyclone relief camps organised in villages of Puri district.
Central team visits Fani-hit blocks
Cuttack: A five-member Central team led by Additional Secretary in Union Ministry of Home Affairs Vivek Bharadwaj visited the cyclone-affected areas of Niali and Kantapada blocks in the district on Tuesday. The team visited Anla and Madhaba panchayats in Niali and Bairoi and Silei in Kantapada to assess the damage caused by cyclone Fani. The members interacted with the affected people and also assessed the damage to crop, enquired about assistance from the State Government besides relief, restoration and rehabilitation works in the areas. Bharadwaj said the team will submit the damage assessment report to Central Government. Senior engineers of Ministry of Power Vivek Goel, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs Rakesh Kumar Sami, Saradindu Das of Coconut Development Board, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Finance Suraj Kumar Pradhan were part of the Central team. The team was accompanied by Principal Secretary, Industry Sanjiv Chopra, Cuttack Collector Aravind Agarwal and SP Cuttack, Rural Radha Binod Panigrahi.