Power cuts to peak in southern districts
2012-07-22
Report by; Basant Rath, News Bureau, Odishabarta
NABARANGPUR:People of southern Odisha will continue to struggle with power cuts for long hours in the coming days. For the past few weeks, power cuts were restricted to two to three hours daily, but it would increase to four or more hours soon.
The precarious situation in the southern Odisha districts has been caused by the Grid Corporation of Odisha (GRIDCO) reducing power supply by 30 to 40 percent in the last three days, said S C Choudhury, chief executive officer, Southco, the private power distribution company. Southco distributes electricity to eight southern Odisha districts - Ganjam, Gajapati, Kandhamal, Boudh, Malkanagiri, Nabarangapur, Koraput and Rayagada.
"Power distribution across the state will be hit in near future as power generation has gone down drastically, especially from the hydro-power projects in the state," said P Pradhan, director (commerce), Gridco. Against the state's daily requirement of around 2,750 mega watt, only 2,200 to 2,400 mega watt is available at present, he said, adding the situation would improve once the state receives adequate rains.
Gridco, the main power supplier in the state, purchases power from different sources, including captive power plants, and receives the state's share from the central sector power stations like Farakka in West Bengal. It then supplies power to the various power distribution companies like Wesco, Nesco, Southco and Cesco.
Meanwhile, former deputy speaker of the state assembly Rama Chandra Panda has urged the Gridco to announce the duration of power cuts daily and asked the Southco to stick to it for the benefit of common people. "The electricity consumers must be made aware of the power cut hours. At present, there is no time limit to power cut in Ganjam," Panda said.
The Southco CEO said he was constantly in touch with officials of Gridco and was trying to minimize the duration of power cuts in the region, especially during night.