Electricity still eludes villagers in Puri pockets

Bhubaneswar: It’s been more than 40 days since extremely severe cyclonic storm Fani ravaged the rural pockets of Puri district and caused massive devastation of the infrastructure including electric poles and transformers. But these areas are yet to get attention of the administration.
Although the government and the district administration are talking about restoration process and are boasting of the work being carried out on ‘war footing’, the reality in many areas are different than the government claims. Many rural pockets of Puri district are yet to see electricity at their villages. They have been living without electricity since May 3 when the cyclone hit their villages.
Bibhutipokhari village in the Satyabadi Block is one such village which is yet to see electricity. The villagers have given up hope of getting it before monsoon sets in. Villagers told this correspondent that failure of the state government to restore electricity has also disrupted the connection of the rural mass with vernacular TV news channel from which they can get information about relief and restoration works and other important government announcements.
“The transformer of our village fell down on the day Fani touched our village and caused massive damage. Since then electricity eluded us. We are struggling to live in this heat since then. Hardly anybody from the government has even come to take stock of the situation,” said Litti Senapati, a villager from the area. He also added that this has been hampering the normal essential works of the villagers and also disrupting the studies of school children from the area.
Many from the area echoed same views and claimed this is unlikely that electricity would be restored even after monsoon sets in if the government officials continue to work at a snail’s pace.
Kunni Pradhan, another villager from the area said, “Many women and men are not literate enough to read the newspapers to know about what the government is doing for people who are affected by Fani. With the non-availability of electricity we have not watched local news channels and are clueless of what the government is doing for us.” She also added that under such circumstances most villagers are bound to fall prey to misinformation and rumours.
Other villages also struggled to get electricity and got it recently. Villagers in Palanka in the Bramhagiri block said that electricity reached them in the last five days while the villagers struggled for the whole month to carry out important work and struggled with the heat. Unavailability of important electricity-run devices added to their woes.
Villagers in Jaipur in Sakhigopal, meanwhile, complained that though electricity has been restored on paper its availability in the village is scarce and with the increasing heat of summer and lack of rescue and restoration works, their livelihood have gone for a toss.