JAGATSINGHPUR: Extreme heat during the day and darkness at night have made life miserable for the people of more than 200 villages in Jagatsinghpur district. With power supply not restored to the villages even 18 days after cyclone Fani battered the district, people have resorted to agitation demanding power at the earliest.The villagers under Balikuda, Raghunathpur and Biridi blocks have staged road blockade, stirs and even detained officials of Central Electricity Supply Utility (CESU) to draw the attention of the Government towards their plight.
Sources said CESU has pressed local contractors in restoration of power supply in different villages of Jagatsinghpur district. Accordingly, last week CESU sent more than 40 skilled labourers to Raghunathpur block where 80 villages are still in the dark. Instead of taking up restoration work on a war-footing, the contractors allegedly sent back the 40 labourers as the villagers started extending help in transportation and installation of electric poles and also repair of LT lines.
Out of 40,000 electric poles, 10,000 poles and 106 transformers have been damaged in the cyclone. Though installation of 33KV and 11KV line poles have been completed by labourers of different contractors, installation of LT lines have been done by the villagers. This has also sparked fear of contractors faking the bills and pocketing money while utilising services of villagers.
In Raghunathpur, out of 20,000 consumers, nearly 10,000 of nearly 80 villages have not yet received power supply leading to protest by hundreds of villagers. They gheraoed the office of assistant engineer, electrical sub-division. The assistant engineer, Biswarnjan Deuri, pacified the villagers and assured to restore power supply following which they called off the stir.
Similarly, irate villagers of Balia Gopinathpur under Biridi block staged road blockade alleging non-involvement of Bangalore-based private company, Enzen Global, in the restoration work in Biridi and Raghunathpur blocks. CESU has pressed Enzen Global for the repair of LT lines and collection of bills but ENZEN skipped the post-cyclone work as its contract is set to end in June.On Monday, irate villagers of Garei under Naguaon block detained a junior engineer Manoranjan Behera for non-restoration of power supply. Police rescued him.