Bhubaneswar, May 23: New power minister Prafulla Mallick today promised that the state had enough energy to meet its needs. The comment comes at a time when several parts of the state are reeling from unscheduled power cuts.

Reacting to power cut reports, Mallick said: "We are generating enough power and no one should be worried about possible shortage. There is power cut in certain areas because of maintenance and repair work being undertaken by a particular sub-divisional office. We have instructed officials to expedite the work."

The minister said that because of high demand of power during peak hours, some substations had to bear additional load and it led to a temporary breakdown of the transformer.

The minister said the state government was committed to providing power to every household across the state by 2019. "We have enough power to meet the needs," he said, adding that the state produced 4,300 MW of electricity daily.

Today, the power consumer federation led by its president Panchanan Kanungo submitted a memorandum to the minister alleging that the state was passing through a power crisis.

"People in the villages are facing power cuts for long periods. Whenever they place a complaint, they find that nobody is ready to give them a hearing," he said.

Kanungo said: "The state government should set up toll-free numbers both at the local office and at the state secretariat. All complaints should be monitored and what action has been taken to this effect should be known to the public."

He also said accountability should be fixed on the officials. "The officials should explain why there is a power cut. Whether it's because of repair work or for other reasons, should be made known," he said, adding that power distribution should be handed over to the panchayats.

Yesterday, the BJP legislature party leader and Patnagarh MLA K.V. Singh Deo had organised a demonstration in front of a local electricity office at Patnagarh in Balangir district protesting against frequent power cuts in his area.

"The government is least bothered about the plight of the common man," said Singh Deo.