As a heat wave increased consumption of electricity, people in many parts of the State experienced tormenting summer due to erratic power cuts in last few days.
Despite the Government’s announcement that there would be no power cut during summer, several complaints came both from urban and rural areas alleging interrupted power supply.
Speaking over the issue, Energy Minister Pratap Keshari Deb on Monday clarified, “There is no power cut; it is power trip. It is happening due to electric overload.”
He admitted that power outages in some parts are affecting people during the summer.
Deb said, “There is no shortage of power supply in Odisha. But we cannot call it power cut. Sometimes, the power gets tripped due to overloading. A few days ago, power got tripped frequently at Saileshree Vihar and VSS Nagar areas in Bhubaneswar where a 33-KV wire could not bear the load. The demand for electricity is increasing with the heat wave; and as per the Government report, the highest demand for electricity consumption was made on April 20 in peak hours since Independence.” 
“Once a 33KV power gets tripped, it takes 6-7 hours to address the issue in Bhubaneswar. As the restoration work is done manually, it becomes time-consuming. So is the condition in rural areas where staffs take a little more time to change the wire after receiving power trip complaints,” he said.
“However, all possible measures are being taken for uninterrupted power supply across the State. Recently, the Energy Secretary had reprimanded officials asking them for redressal of grievances made by the consumers. Action is being taken on a war footing level to resolve the power-related issues,” he added.