New Delhi: Union power minister RK Singh Monday said that the power in Odisha’s Cyclone Amphan affected areas by Monday night. He informed that the power restoration work in West Bengal is going on at a faster pace.
Singh, was reviewing the progress of restoration of power systems post AMPHAN cyclone in Odisha and West Bengal through video conferencing, here on Monday.
Odisha energy principal secretary, West Bengal power additional chief secretary, CMDs of various DISCOMS, union power secretary and additional secretary and CMD of Power Grid of India joined the conference. In
Speaking on the occasion, Singh said that the disruption caused by the Cyclone to the power systems was extensive, but the restoration work has been carried out swiftly. He said that the Inter-State Transmission System was restored within few hours. He expressed confidence that the restoration will be complete in Odisha by today evening itself and the work is in progress in parts of Kolkata and some other districts of West Bengal. According to him, the Central Power PSUs are providing human resources to carry out power restoration of local power supply in the cyclone affected areas.
The minister has directed the ministry that apart from the manpower/assistance already made available they should mobilize additional manpower through NTPC and Power Grid and make them available to power department of West Bengal to assist them in restoration work. They will remain in touch with the West Bengal government so as to provide them whatever help is necessary.
The review meeting can be seen in backdrop of the statement of the ministry of power on last Tuesday that it had put in place adequate arrangements/preparedness to handle power supply situation in the wake of Super Cyclonic Storm AMPHAN. The ministry had set up 24×7 Control Rooms at Bhubneshwar and Kolkata by PGCIL and NTPC. Also, PGCIL had set up a 24×7 Control Room at PGCIL Hqrs/Manesar. The ministry had also assured of all necessary support to State power utilities for damages, if any, to State transmission lines and other power infrastructure on account of the cyclone. Emergency Restoration Systems (ERS) (32 at 400 kV and 24 at 765 kV) along with adequate man power had already been placed at key locations which were to be used in case any transmission tower collapses and transmission lines disrupted.
