Tata Power is enjoying ‘absolute power’ in Odisha: Congress

The Congress party came down hard on the Odisha government after Tata Power allegedly failed to restore power supply soon enough in Bhubaneswar after Nor'wester rain ravaged the smart city on Thursday afternoon.

Congress alleged that the Tata Power is enjoying absolute power in Odisha and the State government has no control over it.

Speaking about the power outage, Congress leader Bijay Patnaik said, “The way the residents of Bhubaneswar had to suffer after Nor'wester disrupted electricity supply in the smart city, proved that Odisha energy department does not have any control over Tata Power.”

“If a corporate is granted absolute power; to bill exorbitantly, collect money as per their whims and even cut power supply and to top that, if the Minister defends them, then the consumers are left at the mercy of God. It proves that the Energy department is not efficient enough and moreover, it does not have control over Tata Power,” he alleged.

The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) however defended the State government. Senior BJD leader, Debi Prasad Mishra said, “This is natural. Transmission cables will get torn after Nor'wester. There is a mechanism and monitoring agency to oversee the interests of the people. They will take appropriate steps if the situation demands.”

Earlier on Thursday, the Chief Secretary of Odisha, Pradeep Jena had expressed his displeasure over Tata Power’s tardy pace of restoration work following the damage caused by nor’wester rain on Thursday.