Bhubaneswar: Energy Minister Pratap Keshari Deb has once again outright dismissed allegations of power cuts in the state.
“There is no power cut anywhere in the state. I have repeatedly asked the media not to use the word power cut. I am again explaining Power cut is done when there is a shortage of power. We have excess power than the demand,” said Deb speaking to reporters.
Deb clarified that power outages in different parts of the state are mainly caused due to Nor’Wester activities.
“We are bound to snap power when there are strong winds or thunderstorm activities. Nor’westers were reported from several parts of the state and electric poles got uprooted. So shut down had to be taken since reinstalling of the poles is a time-consuming affair and cannot be done instantly,” he clarified.
He pointed out that the existing power infrastructure in the state is unable to match the rate at which consumers are using electricity.
“Secondly, the rate at which the consumers are using electricity, our existing infrastructure like 11 KV, 33 KV, LT Transformer, etc. are burning out due to excess load. This is a big challenge for the state government. So therefore wherever there is power disruption for an hour or two it is due to lack of infrastructure and not due to shortage of power and the state government failing to provide power which I have clarified time and again,” Deb explained.
