Berhampur, Nov. 17: Power supply to streetlights in about 60 per cent streets in Berhampur are yet to be restored in the wake of cyclone Phailin.

“We have restored 40 per cent of the streetlights, most of them in the main roads except Aska Road and Engineering School Road in the city. We will be able to restore power to all the 10,000 street lights in every lane and by-lane by December 15,” said assistant engineer (electricals) of Berhampur Municipal Corporation Sukant Kumar Sabat.

Cyclone Phailin caused extensive damage to the electrical installations including 10,000 streetlights, six high-mast lights and 14 semi high-mast lights.

Power to six high mast lights at Kamapalli Square, Bijipur Square, Engineering School Square, Tata Benz Square, Gate Bazar Square and SNT Road Square had been restored on October 27. Street lights along main roads such as Ram Lingam Tank Road, Gandhi Nagar Main Road, Giri Road, RK Hostel Road, Jenana Hospital Road and State Bank of India Road have also been restored.

“About 700 electric poles were damaged by the cyclone and we have proposed to purchase 600 GI tubular poles and 120km of electric cables to speed up the process,” said Sabat.

Deadline not met

Though chief minister Naveen Patnaik had directed the energy department to ensure restoration of electricity to all the consumers in the cyclone and flood affected Ganjam district by November 15, it failed to meet the deadline.

Of the 5.41 lakh consumers in Ganjam, electricity has been restored to only 4.28 lakh as of November 15, said sources in Southern Electric Supply Company (Southco), the power distribution company responsible for power supply to the region.

“Incessant rain for about a week from October 20 to October 26 had slowed down the process. Now the work has picked up speed,” said energy secretary P.K. Jena, who visited seven blocks in Ganjam district recently to supervise the process.