Fani impact: Power links yet to be restored in Puri

Even after 11 days of cyclone Fani, the Puri district in Odisha is yet to get power connectivity. The cyclone that hit the coast on May 3 damaged the basic infrastructures like electricity, telecom and water.

While the state government claimed to have restored about 93 per cent piped water supply in rural areas of the district, the people are anxiously waiting for the revival of power supply.

"Restoring power connection in Puri is a big challenge for us due to large-scale damage to the infrastructure. But we will start supplying power in Puri and Konark towns from May 15," said Information and Public Relations Secretary Sanjay Kumar Singh.

He said 75 towers of 220 kv and 25 towers of 132 kv were damaged by the cyclone.

Apart from Odisha, skilled workers from other states, including West Bengal, Bihar, Telangana and Kerala, have been engaged to restore power supply in the district.

The telecom service is also in poor shape and the service providers have restored only 42 per cent of operations in the district.

Airtel had positioned six cell on wheels, while Reliance Jio has set up three and Vodafone-Idea one in Puri, Singh said. Out of 41 telephone exchanges of the BSNL, 29 are functional in the district, he added. IANS