Vikramaditya
Sri Vijaya Puram, Nov 06: The Zilla Parishad Member of Baratang Island, Mr. R. Alager Swami, today met the Commissioner-cum-Secretary (Power), Dr. Sachin Shinde, at the Secretariat to draw his attention to the severe power crisis affecting Baratang Island. During the meeting, Mr. Alager Swami highlighted the hardships being faced by the residents due to frequent and prolonged power cuts and urged the administration to take swift action to restore normal supply.
Speaking to Andaman Sheekha, Mr. Alager Swami said that the power situation in Baratang has worsened drastically in recent weeks. “There are long hours of power outage without any prior notice, disrupting daily life, business activities, education, and even healthcare services. Students struggle to study in the evenings as the entire area remains in darkness,” he said.
The crisis deepened further when the private party operating the DG set in Baratang reportedly shut down its generators on October 31 at around 2 p.m., forcing the island to depend solely on the unstable power supply from Kadamtala and Rangat. “Even essential services are crippled. The X-ray machine in the government health centre has stopped working due to the outage,” Alagar Swami added.
He also mentioned that local residents had recently gone on strike, after which the administration had assured them that a separate DG set would be sent to Baratang. However, no concrete action has been taken so far.
Local shopkeepers have expressed frustration over the erratic power supply. “There is no electricity for several hours, and when it comes, the voltage is so low that our electrical equipment gets damaged. This situation has become unbearable,” they said.
Following his meeting, Dr. Shinde reportedly assured Mr. Alager Swami that a new DG set would be dispatched to Baratang soon to address the ongoing crisis.
Meanwhile, Mr. Alager Swami said that Mr. Sushant Padha, the Deputy Commissioner of North and Middle Andaman has also been taking personal interest in this matter and monitoring the situation personally so that the problem could be solved as soon as possible.
Residents of Baratang are now hoping for immediate intervention by the administration. Several locals have warned that if the problem is not resolved soon, they may be compelled to take to the streets in protest.
