No power outage, but power trip: Odisha Energy minister 

Even though the norwester has brought some relief from the grueling heatwave conditions in the State, frequent power cuts have doubled the trouble for the denizens despite the assurances of the Odisha Energy Minister Pratap Keshari Deb. 

However, the Energy minister refuted the claims of power cut and attributed it to power trip.

Speaking to media, Deb said, “There is no dearth of electricity supply in the state. In many places, overload leads to power trip. The power supply is getting snapped due to overload on transformers following an excess demand during peak hours.”

“Since India’s independence, the highest demand for electricity was reported on April 20. The sudden increase in the demand led to power trip. Once the 33 KV or 11 KV line gets tripped, it takes time to fix it,” Deb added.

“As I said earlier, accident is an accident and it cannot be avoided. If we find negligence in duty to fix the problems, we take necessary action,” the Minister added. 

Earlier on April 13, Deb had assured the people that there will be no power cuts in the state this year.

“There are speculative reports in the media about the chances of power cuts. I assure everyone that there will be no power cut in Odisha, including rural areas, this year," the Minister had said. 

On the other hand, Opposition BJP and Congress targeted the BJD government over alleged frequent power cut.

“Due to frequent power cuts and low voltage, people are unable to use their electrical appliances. The Energy department secretary had promised to review the situation. Even though Odisha is a surplus State, people are deprived of an undisputed power supply. The BJD government is just fooling the people,” said Congress MLA Santosh Singh Saluja.

Seconding Congress, Odisha BJP general secretary, Prithviraj Harichandan said, “The Odisha government has sold itself to TATA Power. So the government does not feel it necessary to utter a word when the common man suffers.”