As if the soaring temperature was not enough, the frequent and unscheduled power cuts have only added to the woes of the people across Odisha.
In Khordha town, the unscheduled power cuts have come as a double whammy for the residents who are already struggling to cope with the scorching heat.
Whenever power goes out, residents fall back on handheld fans to avoid sweating. Similarly, students can be seen reading with the help of mobile phones’ torchlight.
“I am a resident of the district headquarters. If we are here experiencing power cuts in both day and night hours, the situation in rural pockets can easily be imagined,” said a Khordha resident, Bimal Sarangi.
In Balasore district, the situation is not better either. Power cuts have become a new normal here. As evening sets in, darkness prevails everywhere, be it urban or rural areas. The problem is intense in Soro, Simulia and Khaira areas.
Registering his displeasure, a Soro resident, Ajay Pradhan said, “During this summer, the frequent power cuts have become unbearable. They are concerned only about bill collection. When it comes to providing service, they fail miserably.”
The same picture has also emerged from different parts of Bolangir district. Due to these frequent power cuts, resentment is brewing among people.
A consumer, Padmolochan Mohanty said, “When TATA Power came into the picture, people had a lot of expectations. Though they had thought of getting better service, nothing such happened.”
In this regard, CEO, TP Central Odisha Distribution Limited (TPCODL), M. Senbagam termed the problem as temporary in nature and said it is arising due to outages at Thermal power station. “It would continue for some more days,” he said.
Since the day one of Tata Power taking over the power distribution in the State, complaints like serving faulty bills and collecting exorbitant bill amount have been coming to the fore. And, now, the frequent power cuts during this summer season is said to be testing the consumers’ patience.