Port Blair, Aug 12: Mr. Bishnu Pada Ray, Member of Parliament, A & N Islands, on Sunday met Mr. Manohar Lal Khattar, Union Minister of Power, Govt of India and again submitted a letter complaining about unabated power cuts happening the Islands and Port Blair in Particular.
In his letter Mr. Ray has stated that the capital Port Blair city is under severe power crisis continuing for many years and no corrective steps has yet been taken. The power cuts have become a day to day affair. And people are aggrieved due to this problem.
The average requirement of power at Port Blair is about 45 MW. But all the available power producing sources put together including the department’s 4 MW power plants are unable to meet the requirements.
The problem of power crisis is not limited just to Island capital but is being experienced in all populated islands of the territory.
Mr. Ray has also pointed out that the 33 KV and 11 KV tie lines in Port Blair are very old and require immediate revamp to address the power cut crisis.
In addition to the technical issues, Mr. Ray also pointed out that the Electricity Department requires the revival of SE post and up-gradation of the same to CE post.
Mr. Ray invited the Union Power Minister to Andaman & Nicobar Islands to understand the ground reality and to obtain firsthand knowledge of the problems being faced by the people in the Islands.
Mr. Manohar Lal Khattar, Power Minister has reportedly assured that he will visit the Islands in the month of October this year.
