Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Thursday urged Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to relax NDRF norms to get more fund for restoration of the power infrastructure which was damaged extensively due to the severe cyclonic storm.
In a letter to Rajnath, the Chief Minister said, “The power infrastructure in the district of Puri and parts of other districts has been extensively damaged by the recent extremely severe cyclonic storm, Fani. The transmission and distribution is an integrated network consisting of extra high tension, high tension & low tension.”
According to the present National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) norms for repair of damaged power sector, assistance is given for damaged conductors, poles and transformers upto the level of 11 KV only and the scale of assistance for the admissible items is highly inadequate, he mentioned.
Naveen said that apart from the large scale damage to 11 KV lines, distribution transformers and LT network admissible for repair and restoration under NDRF norms, extensive damage has also been caused to 220 KV / 132 KV towers and transmission lines, grid sub-stations and power transformers and 33 KV poles, lines and primary sub-stations.
“As per preliminary report, the extent of damage due to Fani is estimated to be about Rs 1160 crore and the transmission and distribution companies are not in a position to finance the restoration work. The state government has undertaken restoration of power infrastructure on war footing from its own resources,” the Chief Minister said.
Stating the scale of damage to the power infrastructure is far too expensive to be taken care of by the state government alone, he requested the Union Minister to relax the NDRF norms to provide for actual cost of restoration of the entire power infrastructure damaged by the cyclone.
