Power cuts continue as Discoms give two hoots to govt order

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Apr 28:

The order of the Odisha government on Saturday for uninterrupted power supply has been rendered meaningless as most parts of the state including the capital city have been bearing the brunt of the frequent and undeclared power cuts.

CESU CEO Sudarshan Nayak, however, claimed there has been no instruction for power cut.

“There are power cuts in the areas where the power has tripped due to overload. Due to intense heat, the conductors at some places have melted and snapped which may be another cause for power failure”, he pointed out.

According to reports, besides Bhubaneswar, there have been prolonged power cuts in Puri, Nuapada and Boudh districts.

While most areas in these districts have remained without power the whole night, in the other remaining areas, people have complained about the very low voltage, which is as bad as a power cut.

With the searing heat wave currently sweeping across the state, the hide and seek of power has made the life of the people miserable.

Going by the reliable sources,a total of 1,97,600 kms of power lines are under the four power distribution companies (Discoms)—CESU, Southco, Wesco and Nesco— who supply power to nearly 49 lakh consumers through 1.26 lakh sub-stations.

Since last 40 years, there has been no replacement of about 60 percent of old wires and electric poles. The DISCOMs supply power to most of the areas with the help of these old and worn-out wires. The situation has become more acute in some districts after the Cyclone Phailin in October last year.

While PK Pradhan, director (commercial), Grid Corporation of Odisha (Gridco) has attributed excess consumption of power by air coolers and air conditioners as the reason behind the disruption in power supply in the state, a senior official of the Energy department said the power disruption in Bhubaneswar is due to low potential of the Chandaka-Mancheswar and Chandaka-Ransinghpur power lines.

“These two power lines have the transmission capacity of 90 mega watt while the present requirement is 130-140 mega watt”, he added.

“To tide over frequent power distribution, a decision has been taken to replace these old lines with the high tension low sag (HTLS) wires in phases which will take at least three to four weeks. But since this is not possible at present, it has been decided to resume the replacement work from July,” the official informed.

He also said the Energy department has also decided to set up new grid stations at Rasulgarh, Unit-VIII, Lingipur and Gothapatna after which power problems in Bhubaneswar can be solved.

The department also hopes to solve power problems in Padmapur, Nuapada, Dabugan and Boudh areas by June this year, he added.

The official, however, made it clear that despite these measures, power problems would continue in the state unless and until the DISCOMs replace the old power lines with new ones.