Power supply to over 15 lakh cyclone-hit consumers restored: CESU

Bhubaneswar, Oct 20:

A week after cyclone Phailin disrupted power supply in several parts of Odisha, electricity was restored to most areas, power distribution firm Central Electricity Supply Utility on Sunday said.

The cyclone had devastated electrical installations in nine district under Central Electricity Supply Utility’s (CESU) area of operation, affecting 16.94 lakh consumers, official sources said.

CESU properties worth approximately Rs 270 crore were damaged in the cyclone with areas like Puri, Nimapara, Jagatsinghpur, Paradeep, Khurda, Nayagarh and Balugaon being the most affected, they said.

Supply has been restored to 15 lakh consumers and efforts are on to restore supply to 50,000 to one lakh consumers daily over the next few days, sources in the power utility said.

Out of 20 electrical Divisions under CESU, restoration work is almost over in 13 divisions. However, due to local problems, power could not be supplied to some consumers in these areas. Besides, there was difficulty in restoring supply to the flood affected areas, they said.

In the remaining seven divisions of Jagatsinghpur, Paradeep, Puri, Nimapara, Khurda, Nayagarh and Balugaon, power supply has been restored in almost 80 per cent areas and efforts are on to normalise the supply in the next two to three days.

However, supply to Brahmagiri area, which was ravaged by the cyclone, would take some more time, they added. (PTI)