Bhubaneswar, May 24: The lack of co-ordination between two major utility agencies of the state government has left residents here in the dark, literally.
The unreliability of power supply in the state capital was visible yesterday as a gale uprooted trees, lamp posts and snapped transmission wires leaving several areas including Nayapalli Brit Colony, Unit-V, Unit-VI, Unit-VII and Unit-VIII in the dark for several hours.
But this wouldn't have happened if a programme formulated in 2014 to provide reliable power supply to the twin cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack had made visible progress.
The project is yet to make any progress because there is lack of coordination between the Odisha Power Transmission Corporation Limited (OPTCL) and Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC). This has delayed the implementation of the power reform programme under the State Capital Region Improvement of Power System (Scrips).
In order to provide round the clock power to the city, the state government had launched the Scrips with a budgetary provision of Rs 1,500 crore.
"The plan was chalked in 2014 and it took nearly one year to get the approval of the cabinet. Though this scheme we are trying to strength the power supply system for the city," said a senior official.
He added that the project seeks to upgrade the transmission and distribution system and to make load forecast as reliable as possible. If the project is implemented the twin cities is expected to witness a turnaround in its dismal power scenario.
Since Bhubaneswar is vulnerable to gales and cyclones, the energy department had decided to go for the underground cabling of power lines by dividing the city into four major zones - Sachivalaya Marg, Bidyut Marg, Janpath and Cuttack Road. The state government had earmarked Rs 222 crore for the cabling project and the work contract was awarded to Larsen & Toubro Limited. But problems cropped up when digging of trenches for laying the cables began.
"We are facing a lot of problems, including clearance from different government agencies, mainly the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation and the National Highways Authority of India, for laying the cables," Scrips nodal officer Nihar Pradhan told The Telegraph.
Responding to the charge, Bhubaneswar mayor Anant Jena said: "This has so far not come to my notice. There might be some problems at the ground level. We will sit and sort them out."
Prior to that, the state government had in 2010 launched the Capital Expenditure (Capex) programme for Rs 2,400 crore to strengthen the power infrastructure.
"Part of this money was spent in Bhubaneswar city. But there is no visible improvement in the capital's power situation so far. The 50-year-old substations and wires are awaiting replacement," said Ramesh Satpathy, an activist working in the power sector.
Former finance minister and activist Panchanan Kanungo said: " The government is only making plans but never executes them."
Bhubaneswar resident Manmohan Das said: "I have been living in the city for the last 30 years. We bore the brunt of the 1999 super-cyclone. But yesterday, an ordinary high speed storm snapped power supply for hours together. This is a sad state of affairs," he said.
Energy minister Pranab Prakash Das, however, is confident that things would improve.
"All efforts are being made to improve the power infrastructure. Things will improve significantly by 2019-20," he said.
