BHUBANESWAR: With about 48 per cent electricity consumers of Puri district still going without power even after a month of cyclone Fani hit the coastal district on May 3, the State Government has requested three States for additional skilled manpower for restoration of the critically impaired distribution networks.
“Fresh requisition for more manpower assistance has been made to Kerala, Karnataka and West Bengal and the three States have responded positively to our request,” official sources said.
Around 10,000 workers from outside the State were involved in the restoration works and many of them have returned. Presently, some technical and non-technical workers from Bihar and Madhya Pradesh are helping power distribution utility Central Electricity Supply Utility (CESU) in the restoration works.
Since maximum damage has occurred to power distribution lines, restoration is taking time. Areas where power supply to LT (low transmission) consumers have not been fully restored include Pipili, Kanas, Delang, Satyabadi, and Brahmagiri blocks of Puri district, Balipatna block of Khurda district and Niali block of Cuttack district, a senior officer of CESU said.
The additional manpower to be mobilised from Kerala, Karanata and West Bengal will be deployed in these areas to step up the restoration works.In Puri district, which bore the brunt of Fani, over 1.5 lakh out of 2.91 lakh affected consumers are still going without power.While power supply has been fully restored in Jagatsingpur and Kendrapara districts which were partially affected, restoration works are still on in a few pockets of Cuttack and Khurda districts where 33/11 KV substations are fully damaged, the CESU said.On material support, the sources said there is enough stock of materials for carrying out restoration. What is needed now is more manpower, they added.
Among the States which extended support to Odisha in restoration of power infrastructure, Andhra Pradesh had sent the maximum number of 2050 manpower followed by Karnataka and Telangana. Chhatishgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal which chipped in to assist Odisha in the hour of crisis.
Apart from these States, several Central public sector undertakings including Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL) and National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and National Hydro Power Corporation (NHPC) have deployed specialised manpower to assist OPTCL and CESU.