The poles are being shifted to facilitate road expansion work. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, July 8: Residents of Paika Nagar and Prakriti Vihar here have been spending long hours sweating without power for the last few days.

The problem has cropped up because the utility service provider is shifting a few electric poles to facilitate widening of road connecting Fire Station and Capital Hospital Square.

Two days ago residents of Prakriti Vihar came to know through an announcement that they would have to remain powerless from 7am to 11am daily from July 7 to 12.

“The state government had announced that there would be no power-cuts this year. However, in the summer we had to face the brunt of many power-cuts. But now when the situation should be normal, this announcement of the power supply company comes as a surprise,” said Suraj, a student who stays in a private hostel in Prakriti Vihar.

“The morning hours are very crucial for students as they get ready for their classes. So, power-cuts during this time is disturbing,” he added.

P. Deepak, another resident of the area, said: “The road expansion work from the Fire Station end to Capital Hospital Square has been going on for the last two years and it is yet to be over. As no deadline has been set for the engineering work. people have to suffer. There should be an accountability over the duration of such projects within city limits.”

Cittaranjan Mohapatra, a bank employee of Prakriti Vihar, added that shifting poles either of the power distribution or telecom company should have been done before work on the road started.

“It has become a norm for the public works department to start road work without getting enough space for expansion. As a result the work gets delayed,” he said.

A senior officer of the Bhubaneswar city distribution division- I of the Central Electricity Supply Utility (CESU) said: “The power-cut is effected for a few hours at times during shifting of poles due to road expansion programmes, but we want to minimise the power-cut duration so that people are not inconvenienced. The four-hour power-cut announcement is not as per our policy and it must be due to some other mechanical reason.”

However, the local residents of Prakriti Vihar said though the power-cut time is four hours, if they start it late, say at around 7.30am, then power is restored at 11.30am.

“Yesterday, there was no power-cut, as the workers were not available because of rain. The authorities should use the time judiciously so that in future they would not extend it again on the pretext of shifting poles,” said a local resident.

Contrary to the statement of the senior officer, assistant engineer S.N. Gouda admitted that there are actually power-cuts in the area for shifting of the poles. “It is a tricky situation and people should cooperate. We intentionally avoid shifting poles in summer. Power-cut during summer days create more problem as people tend to depend on power all the time. So, we take up shifting work in early monsoon or winter. It is done in these two seasons so that consumers do not face much difficulties,” he added. “People might be thinking of electrical mishaps during rainy season, but when we work the supply is totally cut-off so there is no chance of any danger during shifting,” said an employee of CESU.

Executive engineer division II (roads) of the public works department, Ranjit Sahu said: “Shifting the electric poles has taken much time and it ultimately hampers the completion process. We had deposited the amount with CESU to shift the poles a year and half ago, but the process has not yet been taken up seriously. When there is a delay in completion of the road work people blame us, but no one actually understands where lies the fault.”