Bhubaneswar: Even though the norwester has brought some relief from the grueling heatwave conditions in the State, frequent power cuts have doubled the trouble for the denizens despite the assurances of the Odisha Energy Minister Pratap Keshari Deb.
“There is no power cut, rather it is power trip. It is happening due to electric overload,” said state energy minister Pratap Keshari Deo, while commenting on complains regarding interruptions in power supply in several parts of Odisha.
He admitted that power outages in some parts are affecting people during the summer.
“There is no shortage of power supply in Odisha. But, we cannot call it power cut, sometimes the power gets tripped due to overloading. A few days ago, power got tripped frequently at Saileshree Vihar and VSS Nagar areas in Bhubaneswar where 33 KV wire could not be able to bear the load. The demand for electricity is increasing with soaring heatwave and as per the government report, the highest demand for electricity consumption was made on April 20 in peak hours since Independence,” Deb said.
“Once a 33 kv power gets tripped, it takes 6-7 hours to address the issue in Bhubaneswar. As the restoration work is done manually, it becomes time consuming. So is the condition in rural areas where staff take a little more time to change the wire after receiving power trip complaints,” he said.
“However, all possible measures are being taken for uninterrupted power supply across the state. Recently, the Energy secretary had reprimanded the officials asking them for redressal of grievances made by the consumers. The action is being taken on war footing level to resolve the power related issues,” he added.
