BHUBANESWAR : Even as Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has directed the Energy department to ensure restoration of power supply to at least 80 per cent (pc) of the areas affected by cyclone Yaas by 9 pm Thursday, a large parts of Bhadrak, Balasore and Mayurbhanj districts are going without power for three days.
With no updates from the Energy department and Tata Power unwilling to share information on progress of restoration work, reports from Bhadrak and Balasore districts said only 30 to 40 pc rural areas have been completed. However, power supply to Balasore and Bhadrak towns which received maximum brunt of the tropical cyclone has been fully restored.
While an executive engineer of Tata Power North Odisha Distribution Ltd (TPNODL) said 50 pc of rural areas in Bhadrak district have been restored by 9 pm, a senior officer of the district administration said only 30 pc of the consumers have got power supply.
Similar is the situation in rural areas of Balasore district where Minister of State for Energy Dibya Shankar Mishra is monitoring the works. Repeated attempts to contact Mishra proved futile. Informed sources in Balasore said restoration of power supply in rural areas has been challenging due to large-scale inundation and continuous rains.
In his daily briefing, Special Relief Commissioner Pradeep Jena told mediapersons that power supply was restored to 77 pc of old CESU areas (now TPCODL) by Wednesday midnight. Tata Power had assured the government to complete restoration to the remaining areas by Thursday evening.
He said Tata Power has not been able to assess the situation of Mayurbhanj because the district was not accessible due to large-scale inundation. Jena, however, admitted that meeting the target of restoring power supply to 80 pc areas of Bhadrak and Balaore is a tall claim in view of the ground situation.
The SRC said an additional 1,000 personnel have been mobilised from TPCODL to the affected areas to assist in restoration works. A clear picture will emerge on Friday, he added. Interestingly, Union Minister Pratap Sarangi, who is in Balasore and will join the Prime Minister at his review meeting here, said he has no information about the restoration works.