John Wilbert & Sarthak Kanjilall
Baratang, June 09: To solve the issues of a power outage, low voltage etc in the houses situated at Baratang Island, the Electricity Department placed two Diesel Generator sets in the Electricity Site Office, Baratang for installation around 04 months ago but till today no steps has been taken by the Electricity Department to install the DG sets.
“After bringing the DG sets in the Baratang Island, the department should have installed it at the earliest for the benefit of the people. The unwanted delay in making the DG sets operational is a matter of concern and is troubling us,” said a resident of Baratang on condition of anonymity.
Talking to Andaman Sheekha, the Up-Adhyaksha, North and Middle Andaman Zilla Parishad, and also the Zilla Parishad member of Baratang, Mr. Alager Swamy said that every household in the area is facing a lot of electricity-related problems.
“Generally there are power cuts everyday and when there is power the voltage is mostly low, due to low voltage, in many houses the home appliances got damaged,” said Mr. Alager Swamy.
Mr. Swamy also said that electric lines till Baratang are connected directly from Rangat, hence, if any tree falls in the line at Bakultala or any other region between Rangat and Baratang, the residents of Baratang had to suffer, claiming it as a major drawback.
Mr. Alager Swamy played an active role in recent past to get these two DG sets sanctioned for Baratang Island.
When Andaman Sheekha contacted, the Superintendent Engineer, Electricity Department, Er. Ajit Bernard said that lockdown was the only reason behind the delay.
Er. Bernard said that the agreement was signed by the outsourcing company Express Engineers of Delhi in February 2020 and according to the agreement the company had 03 months for the installation, but due to the COVID-19 impact government announced the lockdown, as a result of which the installation work was delayed.
“As per the GoI, all the contractual jobs have been given a month more for the completion of their tasks that got halted due to the lockdown, henceforth we have also given time to the contractor till mid-July 2020 and has asked them to start the operations,” said the Superintendent Engineer.
