Anu Choudhary at the Bijuli Didi launch ceremony. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Sept. 13: The state government today launched Bijuli Didi to share tips that will help consumers to save electricity.

Odia star Anu Choudhary will in a way reprise the role of Rajni, in an eponymous teleserial that was popular in the late eighties.

In that serial, actress Rajni, played by Priya Tendulkar, campaigned to create awareness among people on consumer rights.

As part of the Bijuli Didi campaign, information will be circulated in the media to make people aware about simple facts that will help people to conserveelectricity, check power theft and pay bills on time. The power distribution companies of Odisha — Central Electricity Supply Utility, North Eastern Electricity Supply Company, Western Electricity Supply Company and Southern Electricity Supply Company and all their franchisees — will join hands to sponsor the campaign.

The campaign was necessitated as it was found that while the all-India average transmission and distribution (T&D) loss is 26 per cent, in Odisha it is around 40 per cent. Apart from the technical loss, power theft happens to be the biggest stumbling block in the region.

Sources said that one per cent T&D loss costs Rs 80 crore to the state’s power sector. The distribution companies in Odisha are facing one of the highest levels of T&D loss in the country that is estimated at Rs 1,760 crore per year.

Explaining the reason for the Bijuli Didi campaign, energy secretary Pradip Kumar Jena said: “The power distribution companies are facing major problem over energy theft in Odisha. While the situation is not very different from in states, Odisha can create history by reducing electricity theft with public participation.”

Chairman-cum managing director of Odisha Power Transmission Corporation Limited and Grid Corporation Odisha Limited Hemant Sharma shared Jena’s view.

“With public awareness, this campaign is intended to achieve a big shift in consumer behaviour. It may lead to a lasting and sustainable impact in consumers’ attitude towards the power distribution mechanism.”

To launch the campaign, the sponsors had roped in well-known actor-cum-comedian Tatwaprakash Satpathy, popularly called Papu Pom Pom. Children of the Cuttack-based Dance Academy also performed.