Port Blair, Sep 19: The Zilla Parishad member, Mr. P Srinivas Rao has recently complained about the pathetic condition of the Electricity being faced by the general public of N&M Andaman to the PM of India Mr. Narendra Modi.
In a letter addressed to the Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi the ZP member informed that a lot of bizarre incidents have unfolded in the Department of Electricity resulting in pathetic condition of the entire power infrastructure of the Islands. The entire South Andaman plunged in darkness. Power outages all through the day following closure of a power plant run by M/S Surya Chakra Power Corporation at Bambooflat due to some management lapses. In this regard, the private plant was inducted on a 15 year lease agreement basis which comes to end in a couple of months ahead. On the other hand, the North & Middle Andaman area is a already conditioned to frequent power outages for decades now, despite this being home to the lone hydro electric power station of these islands namely Kalpong Hydro-power project on the Kalpong river in Diglipur. Water from this dam is often deliberately discharged beyond the normal level as faster as possible so that it goes below the level required to run turbine wheels. This in turn, enables the officials to run the Diesel Generator operated power houses by using huge volume of HSD, thus paving way for minting money on its procurement. It is well known fact that, the hydro-electric power at kalpong dam is not optimally used and if tapped properly, it would have made the use of DG sets and HSD a superfluous and unnecessary one.
In his letter dated 07 September Mr Rao further said that official indifference, corruption and apathy alone could be the reason for the power failure in Andaman and Nicobar Islands as the power sector alone receives as annual outlay of more than 600 crores every year. Out of this 600 cr, a whopping Rs 300 Crore Is spent on fuel alone while the rest is spent on development and maintenance of infrastructure. The agreement with the M/S Surya Chakra Power Corporation will be coming to end soon which is an open fact. Despite that the electricity department had not taken any concrete steps to revive the infrastructure.
Further informing Mr. Rao said that With thousands of Crore rupees the electricity department was allotted during the last decade and a half, the department could have commissioned more than a couple of power generation units much bigger in size and volume then the one run by M/s Surya Chakra. Futility of the electricity department is also proved through a couple of hybrid power projects (hybrid of solar and wind energy) which came to an abrupt end before it could be commissioned because of disputes with the private partners roped in by the department. These projects have already swallowed several crores from the exchequer and now under arbitration owing to contractual dispute. In terms of improving the transmission corridor also, no infrastructure development has been taken up during the last one and half a decade. All these have taken place only due to the corruption, apathy and indifference of the officials towards their vested government duty. Apparently, officials of the electricity department which is headed by the Superintending Engineer with a contingent of Executive Engineers, Assistant Engineers and so on have failed in keeping the electricity department abreast with the growing requirement. Lastly adding to it Mr. Rao said it seems that, myopic view of the officials in predicting the future of department leading to failure of the infrastructure and contractual issues that have taken a heavy toll on the public. Mr. Rao has appealed for kind intervention and to issue directions to concerned authorities for immediate revamping of power infrastructure in the Islands. As a foremost thing, the existing administrative structure of the electricity department may be revamped by appointing an officer from the Indian Engineering Service at the helm of affairs so that, the desired level of innovation, dedication and technical competency will be achieved.
