MALKANGIRI: Around 400 girl students of the SSD Higher Secondary School at Mathili in Malkangiri district spent four days without electricity after the hostel transformer reportedly developed a fault on Monday. Power supply was restored to the hostel on Saturday.
The residential school, which functions under the ST & SC Development department, also faced an acute drinking water crisis as the power outage disrupted the water supply system. Water was supplied to the hostel through two tankers during the period.
Sources said the school authorities had informed higher officials in March this year about the deteriorating electrical infrastructure and sought repairs. Though some repair work was reportedly carried out, the transformer went blank four days ago, plunging the hostel into darkness. The prolonged outage severely affected the day-to-day lives of the students, particularly at night, besides disrupting the water supply. School authorities said efforts were made to restore power at the earliest and temporary arrangements were put in place to ensure uninterrupted drinking water supply through tankers.
District welfare officer A Srinivas Achary told the TNIE that he had apprised the ITDA project administrator of the situation.
Meanwhile, residents of Malkangiri municipality have also been facing inconvenience after streetlights in 23 streets went out following the disconnection of power supply by TPSODL. The outage has drawn reactions from residents, especially as it comes during the ongoing rainy season. Municipality executive officer Rajiv Lochan Nayak said the civic body had already applied for the electricity connection and completed the required agreement formalities, but TPSODL was yet to provide the power supply.
However, TPSODL sub-divisional officer Kartik Das said that while the municipality had submitted the application and completed the agreement, it had not yet furnished the mandatory inspection report, delaying the restoration of power.
