Bhubaneswar, Feb. 24: State energy minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak and other top officials of the energy department today had a discussion on the frequent and undeclared power-cut situation in the capital.

“The hydro-power generation in the state would nosedive during April and May. We are being wary and cutting power now, so that we don’t have to suffer much during summer,” said a Central Electricity Supply Utility (Cesu) official.

Frequent and undeclared power cuts amid a spell of sultry weather conditions over the past three days have made life miserable for people in the capital. Since the exam season is on, students are the worst sufferers, sweating and fretting over the rise in mercury and abrupt loadshedding.

“The power cuts are taking place without any prior notice. My board exams will begin after three days, but the frequent, indefinite power cuts, especially in the evening, make it difficult to concentrate on studies,” said Aishwarya Kar, a Class XII student, who stays at Nayapalli.

Though the Cesu authorities said the power cuts had been occurring for the last two days, people in some areas complained that they had been bearing the brunt of frequent loadshedding for more than a week.

“The frequent power cuts, coupled with a sudden rise in temperature, have been very painful. As soon as the panchayat polls got over, the power cuts started. It lasts for 15 minutes to one hour. The government must do something about this. Children are suffering a lot,” said Pallavi Das, a mother of two.

The Cesu officials attributed the loadshedding to low availability of power with them. Cesu carries out the distribution and retail supply of electricity in central Odisha, which includes Khurda, Puri, Cuttack, Angul, Dhenkanal, Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur districts.

Cesu collects power from Odisha Power Transmission Corporation Limited and supplies to the consumers at retail prices. “For Bhubaneswar, we don’t get adequate amount of power. This is the reason we have to disrupt power in several areas as per the needs of other areas at that time of the day,” said Utpal Sinha, general manager of Cesu.

The electricity requirement of the capital is 124 million units (12,400 megawatt) a month. Cesu officials said it was expected to go up by 20 per cent.

Sinha said Cesu had been instructed not to cut power during the exam period. “However, low power availability has forced us to go for loadshedding for a particular period everyday on a rotation basis, so that only a few areas do not bear the brunt,” he said.

However, P.K. Pradhan, director (commercial) of the Grid Corporation of Odisha, said Cesu was provided power as per its requirement. “As the demand varies from time to time, they are provided with power as per their needs. But, for the past few days, there has been a slight decline in power supply, which might have compelled them to cut power in certain areas to meet the shortfall,” said Pradhan.

Pradhan said the overall power shortfall for Odisha a day is around 300 megawatt because of technical problems at three power generation plants.

“Because of this, about 200 megawatt from the Odisha Power Grid Corporation could not be drawn. Similarly, 50 megawatt each from the power projects at Farrakka and Kaniha have also been blocked, which has affected the power scenario,” he said.

Pradhan said the power cuts would persist for another week.

“As and when the sources of power are replenished, and we get 300 megawatt power as per our requirement, the situation will get back to normal. Besides, we are also trying to ensure that the frequency of power cuts is minimised during summer,” said the engineer.