Cuttack, May 27: Recurring power cuts are making life miserable for people in north Orissa.

“North Orissa districts – Keonjhar, Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur and Mayurbhanj — are experiencing low voltage and power cuts due to the apathy of Nesco, the licensee power distribution company,” alleged Keonjhar Navanirmana Parishad (KNP) in an additional affidavit filed in Orissa High Court.

The Parishad’s affidavit is in connection with a PIL filed earlier in which it had challenged an Orissa Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) order enhancing electricity tariff for 2011- 2012 from April 1. The high court had in an interim order on March 31 imposed restrictions on collection of the revised tariff from consumers.

“In most of the areas, both rural and urban, there are power cuts/loadshedding for more than ten hours every day and the rest of the time the areas are experiencing low voltage problems,” the affidavit alleged.

“In almost all electric substations, no registers are being maintained for recording the time/period of power cut and low voltage, although specific provisions are there to maintain the registers,” the affidavit further alleged.

Parishad secretary Dillip Kumar Mohapatra said north Orissa districts were experiencing power cuts even after the Orissa government had on April 20 promised a power cut-free summer to the people of the state.

“There will be no power cuts this time,” chief secretary Bijay Kumar Patnaik had announced exuding confidence about the government’s ability to manage the power situation this summer.

Incidentally, the announcement was made a few days after the OERC and Gridco filed affidavits in the high court indicating that power cuts would be imminent if collection of revised electricity tariff was not allowed.

OERC had indicated that there would be substantial loadshedding in the state due to restrictions imposed on collection of enhanced power tariff for 2011-12. “This may lead to loadshedding of around 30 per cent load for the state which includes both subsidised and subsidising categories of consumers,” the commission had claimed.

Gridco had claimed that the consequential effect on it and power sector in Orissa would be “disastrous”.

“It will result in regulation of power supply by generators which may stretch up to six hours or more everyday,” the affidavit had stated.

The high court, however, has put the ball in OERC’s court by directing it on May 9 to dispose of state government’s review petition on revised power tariff for domestic consumers before the PILs challenging power tariff hike are taken up for further hearing on June 20. The high court had taken up two other petitions filed by Utkal Chamber of Commerce and Rohit Ferrotech Ltd for analogous hearing along with the one filed by KNP.