The residents in different parts of the industrial town and four blocks of Jharsugada are facing frequent power cuts for past three weeks here.
There are unscheduled power cuts which last for six to eight hours every day while in the remote areas, there are prolonged power cuts.
Coupled with this there is the low voltage problem. As a result, air coolers, ACs, computers and all other electrical appliances don't work properly. At times, they also get damaged, told Engineer V Naik of Shankarvihar area.
The public anger is writ large and as an example, a team of three Wesco officials was attacked by irate villagers in Kulabira block where they had gone to repair a 25 KV transformer on Saturday.
“Electricity vanishes for the entire day; at times, we do not see any power in evenings. Despite the fact that we have been paying regular bills, we are left to suffer amid scorching summer heat,” said Chandan Mohanty, a resident of Cox colony.
Most of the areas that experience outages come under the township area. This includes midnight power cuts in parts of BTM area, Bijunagar, Cox colony, Behramal, Industrial estate area, Sarbahal area, Railway colony Intabhatta area and Choukipara. Traders also are suffering due to the shortage of electricity. YKROK Public School operation head Nikita Sharma said, “We are facing a lot of problems due to power cut at Bombay chowk area in the morning. It is very inconvenient for the office goers to get prepared.”
“We approached the concerned department many times, but to no avail,” said social activist Subash Sahare, a resident of Durga Mandap area. The Wesco is fully prepared to meet even a demand of maximum 40 MW per day in Jharsugada township area, Kirimira, Kulabira and laikera block of the district. In some areas, transformers had tripped because of excessive heat and high demand leading to outages in the last few days, said a Wesco SDO.