Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Traders protest frequent power cuts in Kalahandi

The Pioneer, April 28, 2009
Pioneer News Service | Bhawanipatna

In a meeting at the Town Hall here on Sunday, Kalahandi Merchants’ Association president Bijay Kumar Sahu brought the matter of frequent disruption of electric supply and low voltage to the notice of the concerned officials of the energy department. The Kalahandi ADM, GRIDCO General Manager and WESCO Executive Engineer were present at the meeting.

Hundreds of businessmen asked the officials about the reasons behind the frequent power cuts, low voltage, illegal power connections, irregularity in bill payment and poor response of the staff towards the problems of the consumers. However, the officers could not give satisfactory reply to these queries.

The GRIDCO General Manager assured to setup a grid station at the town within two years, but till that time the consumers have to suffer from power problems. The grid has already been setup at Kesinga and Narla, but total of its 53 MW power supply is not enough, he said.

The WESCO officers admitted the consumers’ complaint that supply of electricity to the Vedanta is the main reason of frequent power cuts in the area, but the GRIDCO General Manager denied any supply of power to the company. The consumers rued that there was no proper communication between the GRIDCO and WESCO.

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