Bhubaneswar: The Central Electricity Supply Utility (CESU) in Odisha has announced to close down all its collection counters in districts of Khurda, Kendrapara, Angul & Puri Municipality areas from Mar 23 to 29 as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 outbreak.
It has urged all its consumers to use the online payment facility instead of crowding the collection counters as per the latest government guidelines.
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In a press note released on Sunday, CESU stated, “In view of the instructions of the State Government of Odisha on measures against Covid-19, all the collection counters of CESU in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Khurda, Kendrapara, Angul and Municipal jurisdiction of Puri will remain closed till 29 March 2020.”
“This has been decided to prevent spread of Covid-19 by maintaining social distancing,” added CESU.
The release further stated that the government of Odisha has issued an instruction to adopt strict measures of social distancing and isolation to contain the epidemic and notified a lockdown till 29 March 2020 in some of the districts that come under CESU’s jurisdiction.
Electricity, being an essential service, has been exempted from the restrictions clamped down by the government. However, as per the statement, the power utility company has decided to close down all its collection counters in Khurda, Cuttack, Kendrapara, Angul and Puri to ensure safety of its consumers and employees.
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Nevertheless, CESU reiterated that it will keep its offices open in those districts for smooth operation of all the sub-stations and distribution networks, so that it can provide uninterrupted supply of electricity to all its consumers.
The power supply company has also directed the respective Superintendent Engineers and Executive Engineers to call minimum number of employees required to carry out operations. That being said, CESU also reserved rights to call all the employees in a short notice in case of any emergency situation.
The power supply company has signed off the release by requesting all its consumers to stay safe at home and use the online facility to pay their electricity dues.