Ranpur: The residents of eight villages in the tribal populated Bandhamunda panchayat in this block in Nayagarh district have no electricity since two months, thanks to the negligence of officials.
The tribals here are facing serious problems due to the absence of power supply. Children are finding it difficult to study using oil and kerosene lamps and the elderly are having a tough time.
The villagers said officials have not responded despite repeated complaints. They warned of a stir, if nothing was done to solve the power problem.
Government reports say that work on electrifying the village began seven years back in 2012 under the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY). But many villages have not been electrified. Even after seven years only a few villages have power supply.
Due to the negligence of the Electricity Department even the few villages which have power supply are facing constant outages.
“It took seven years for the officials to supply electricity, that too only to a handful of villages. There are a lot of irregularities in power supply. We have been in the dark since two months and had complained, but our pleas had no effect,” the villagers said.
The villagers said electricity lines come through a dense reserve forest to Bandhamunda panchayat. Last year, during the Titli storm and floods, many trees fell on electric poles disrupting power supply. Since then the villages are in darkness as the officials have not removed the trees.
“Despite repeated complaints to CESU and the department’s senior officials, no one has bothered to listen to our woes. We are planning a sit-in at the Electricity Department office,” Bandhamunda Sarpanch Ajay Kumar Pradhan said.
Chandpur CESU Junior Engineer (JE) Ganeswar Sahu said, “Electric poles and trees were uprooted by Titli. Our department will soon replace the electric poles and resume power supply to the villages. Steps are also being taken to provide electricity to all the other villages.”
PNN