Rayagada: Residents of Manikpatna village of Gangabad panchayat under Rayagada block in Gajapati district are can only be envious when they see villages just across the Odisha-Andhra Pradesh border fully illuminated while they continue to remain in darkness. The village which has a population of around 150 is on the Odisha side adjacent to the border.
Power supply to this village snapped during cyclone Titli in March. The cyclone had uprooted electric poles and wires had also snapped plunging the village in darkness. Villagers on the Andhra side faced the same predicament. However, the Andhra government was quick to restore power to the villages on its own side.
The Odisha government had also installed a transformer in March for restoration of power supply to Manikpatna. But it went out of order within a few days of its installation plunging the village into darkness once again. Close to 10 months have gone by, numerous appeals and applications by the villagers, eerie darkness engulfs the village everyday once sun sets.
The villagers said that they disclosed their plight during a grievance meeting called by the Collector, September 19. Southco executive engineer, Gangagouri Prasad Pattanayak had promised then that the power supply would soon be restored by replacing the out-of-order transformer with a new one soon.
But again four months have gone by without any further development. The villagers who are mostly Hindus and Christians lamented that they had to spend most of the festivities like Christmas and Sankranti in darkness.
The angry villagers have urged the administration to repair or replace the old and damaged transformer quickly. A number of villagers including Alasa Sabar, Madhu Sabar, Pradhan Sabar threatened agitation if their grievances are not looked into immediately. But then who has the time for only 150 people?
When contacted, junior engineer, Southco, Debabrata Sahu, said he has already submitted a report about the Manikpatna transformer to the district headquarters office. He said that the transformer has a capacity of 25KV but the electric wires that have been put up for supplying current have a capacity of 16KV only. Hence, power has not been restored in the village. Sahu however assured that the problem will be solved quickly.
PNN