BHADRAK: Even as the State Government has decided to ensure uninterrupted power supply this summer, the district has been experiencing frequent and unscheduled power-cuts and low voltage for the last one week.
“We have to spend sleepless nights due to excessive heat and lack of power supply. Though our village has been electrified, we are in the dark for one week,” said Basanta Bal of Nuasahi village in Chandbali block. Nuasahi is not the only village that is reeling under power-cuts.
The villages in Bhandaripokhari, Bonta, Tihidi and Basudevpur blocks are facing similar problems for the last few months. Although these villages are electrified, they have to live with low voltage or no power supply. Even the villages adjacent to district headquarters including Gelpur, Randia, Korant and Gopabandhupur have to face similar problems for days together.
The locals attribute the cause of the problem to negligence on the part of the officials of OPTCL and Nesco which look after power transmission and supply in the district. OPTCL sources said against minimum requirement of 100 mw, 90 mw is available for the district. Even the old conductor and transformer in 33 kv yard does not have the capacity for transmission of 90 mw, they added. Besides, poor maintenance of the power sub-stations has hampered the supply.
When contacted, Narayan Das, Superintending Engineer, Nesco said the power supply has been disrupted for thundersqualls. Besides, power theft is rampant in the area and the management is planning to solve the problem soon, he added.