Odisha govt’s ‘no more power cut’ claim falls flat on face

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, May 28:

“No more power cuts,” Odisha’s Energy secretary Suresh Mohapatra announced rather grandiosely only yesterday. It took less than 24 hours for the claim to fall flat on its face.

Residents of the capital city Bhubaneswar, who must have gone to bed last night comforted by the Energy secretary’s assurance, woke up this morning to find that they have to endure not only the two 30-minute long scheduled power cuts during the day, but several unscheduled cuts all through the day.

Attributing the ongoing power cut in Bhubaneswar to two broken extra high tension (EHT) towers at Nachuni near Balugan, the Energy secretary had proudly announced yesterday; “We have been able to divert 50 MW from other sub-stations to meet the requirement.”

It looks like either the Energy department got its arithmetic horribly wrong or the people of the city suddenly decided to increase their ‘requirement’ after the announcement !

Given that the residents of the capital city are the most privileged lot when it comes to such things, the situation could only be worse in other places in the state.

Curiously, ground level staff have no knowledge of the end of power cuts announced yesterday. “We have received no instruction to stop power cut,” said an employee of the electricity department in the city.

In hindsight, the people should have been wise enough to take the promise of no power cuts with a pinch of salt. After all, did not the government announce that there would be no power cuts this year at the start of the summer?

Under fire, the Energy has come out with the rather specious explanation that it is ‘tripping’ and not power cuts. But that has not lessened the torture for the people, who are roasted by temperatures in the range of 45 degrees centigrade.

In any case, did the Energy department not know that people who have air conditioners would use them during the summer? If it did, why did it not take it into account while announcing that there would be no power cuts?

With the monsoon still some days away, the people would do well not to believe the periodic announcements of ‘comfortable’ power situation and prepare themselves to bear the heat.