Odisha Congress goes all out against Tata Power; pelts tomatoes, eggs at DISCOM offices

The Congress party took the agitation against power distribution company, Tata Power a notch higher when they launched protests across Odisha on Tuesday.

They were protesting against the alleged power cuts which have been continuing in the State despite a cooler weather owing to the arrival of monsoon. They also demanded that DISCOM should maintain a 30-day bill cycle without fail.

The Congress activists were even spotted pelting eggs and tomatoes at the offices of Tata Power in Nayagarh, Kendrapara and Malkangiri.

“We protested today by throwing eggs and tomatoes at their office. We will not spare anybody from Tata Power and pelt every officer with eggs whenever they come out of their office,” said a Congress member in Nayagarh, Dilip Kumar Bisoyi.

The Congress members pelted eggs and staged dharna in front of Tata Power offices in Kendrapara and Malkangiri as well.

“We demand uninterrupted, qualitative and cost-effective power supply, said senior Congress leader, Ganeswar Behera.

As per reports, the party launched simultaneous agitations at Kendrapara, Nayagarh, Cuttack, Koraput, Malkangiri, Balasore, Berhampur, Rayagada, Sambalpur, and Nabarangpur.

In Koraput, the protest was led by MP Saptagiri Ulaka, who said, “We want Tata Power to stop power cuts, false billing, mismanagement in power distribution, and rectify the low-voltage problem. The Odisha government should also bring a white paper on the money spent to overhaul the power infrastructure in the State.”

However, in its defense, Tata Power maintained that the power outages were due to nor'wester rains and not load-shedding.

“We witnessed nor'wester rains for the last three months. In fact, the areas under TPWODL have witnessed nor'wester rains for 140 times during this time. Despite that, we have tried our best to maintain the power supply,” said the CEO of TPWODL, Gajanan Kale.

Not only power cuts, but resentment against the DISCOM has been growing for several other reasons as well. For example, a lawyer in Jeypore, Debasis Mohanty has moved the consumer court accusing Tata Power of repeated excessive billing despite grievances.