The residents of about 50 villages of lathikata and Gurundia blocks of Sundargarh district have been living in darkness for last 15 days as there is no electricity, following a breakdown due to damage of cable gone under a railway line of their area.
The aggrieved villagers staged a demonstration in front of Wesco lathikata office on Wednesday and threatened of staging an indefinite agitation from June 9, if their electricity is not restored latest by june 8.
Sources said, from the lathikata 11 KV substation feeder, electricity line has crossed the railway track near Jodabandha area. This has been the source of electricity for about 50 villages under lathikata and Gurundia blocks.
However, on May19, the underground cable, below the railway track, was damaged for some reason, following which all these villages have been facing a lot of difficulties.
Wesco officials at Rourkela, when contacted, confirmed the case as cable damage and needs replacement. “After the power failure in these villages, our team had visited the spot and cable damage under the railway line had come to our notice,” said Wesco Rourkela Superintending Engineer M Meher. “We are not able to repair the cable without the permission from railway authority,” Meher said. “The railway officials have asked us to formally apply for their permission and for giving their permission also they have demanded a deposit of about Rs 9 lakh,” he informed. “Since the locals are suffering due to delay in process, we have also requested intervention of the district administration,” Meher added.
According to sources, Raghunathpalli MlA Subrat Tarai also took up the matter with Wesco and railway officials, explaining the difficulties of the locals and requested them for completing the formalities at the earliest. Railway officials on the other hand claimed that allowing the cable to go under the railway track has to pass through the safety protocol, for which an engineering drawing has to be submitted by the Wesco for their approval.
“We have asked them to submit a detail drawing for taking the underline cable after which we can give them the necessary clearance,” said Senior Divisional Electrical Engineer, South Eastern Railway Chaitanya Singh. “We have not yet received the proposed drawing from them,” Singh added.