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Regular-article-logo Friday, 26 April 2024

Power back in several parts of the city: 12.5% truth

Group seen dragging power cables from a CESC office because officials said they were short on manpower

Subhankar Chowdhury Calcutta Published 25.05.20, 08:53 PM
Damaged electric cables hang close to a street after trees fell on it, in the aftermath of Cyclone Amphan, in Kolkata, Friday, May 22, 2020

Damaged electric cables hang close to a street after trees fell on it, in the aftermath of Cyclone Amphan, in Kolkata, Friday, May 22, 2020 (PTI)

The state government had tweeted on Sunday, quoting a CESC report, that power supply was restored to several parts of Calcutta, including Regent Estate in Jadavpur.

On Monday, residents of Regent Estate told The Telegraph that only 25 of the 200-odd houses had the supply restored.

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“We read in newspapers that power supply was back in most parts of our area. But most households are still without electricity,” said Shibaji Bhowmik, the secretary of the Regent Estate Association.

A visit to the neighbourhood revealed that uprooted poles were still lying along or on the roads. Cables that had invaded balconies during the storm were not removed and passages were still blocked by uprooted trees.

A resident said most of the 3,500-odd residents stay in multi-storey buildings. Many elderly people were severely inconvenienced.

“We have to hire generator sets for emergency purposes like getting potable water from the reservoir on the ground to that on the roof. Many people who are diabetic have to keep their insulin in refrigerators,” said Sudip Das Bhowmik, a septuagenarian.

On Monday afternoon, a group of residents was seen dragging power cables from the CESC office next to KPC Medical College and Hospital in Jadavpur.

A middle-aged person, who was part of the team, said they did so because CESC staff said they did not have enough personnel for the job.

“We went to the office, collected the cable and brought it to Regent Estate on our own. We just want a CESC team to come and fix the lines,” said the person.

Regent Estate is not the lone case where the state government has made claims that turned out to be false.

The government tweeted that power had been restored to major parts of Survey Park as well. A resident of Survey Park told this newspaper at 9.30pm on Sunday that her home was without power for the fifth consecutive evening.

On Monday, power was restored to her house, but not to a large number of houses spread over the three blocks of Survey Park.

Residents of Regent Estate said they went to the local CESC office several times with the plea to repair the lines.

“On Thursday, the linemen said the fallen trees would have to be cleared to make way for them. We hired tree cutters to create the passage. But only a handful of persons came and fixed fewer lines than required,” said Ashok Sengupta.

Rajeshwar Sinha, a teacher at Jadavpur University, said the fewer linemen on the ground were hijacked by residents of an adjoining colony.

CESC officials were not available for comment. The company’s spokesperson neither took calls nor responded to a text message till late on Monday.

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