Tarun Karthick
Sri Vijaya Puram, 16 February 2025
For the past week, residents of Car Nicobar have been grappling with prolonged power outages, plunging much of the island into darkness for most of the night and leaving them without electricity during the day. The crisis has severely disrupted daily life, with students preparing for the ongoing CBSE Board Exams among the worst affected.
According to locals, nine out of the island’s fifteen villages—including Chukchucha, Tapoiming, Mus, Big Lapathi, Small Lapathi, Kinmai, Tee Top, Sawai, and parts of Arong—have been receiving only one to two hours of electricity at night. Throughout the day, the power supply remains completely cut off, making it difficult for residents to go about their daily routines.
With Grade X and XII board examinations underway, students are struggling to study in the absence of a stable power supply. The lack of electricity at night has also disrupted sleep patterns, compounding stress levels among students and their families. Residents have expressed frustration over the electricity department’s failure to provide timely updates on the situation and the steps being taken to resolve the crisis.
The root cause of the persistent power cuts remains unclear, further aggravating concerns among islanders. Many have urged the Andaman and Nicobar Administration to step in and take immediate action to restore normalcy.
Nicobar Times reached out to the Assistant Engineer of the Electricity Department, Car Nicobar, who assured that the department’s staff is working tirelessly to rectify the fault. He explained that repair work necessitates a complete shutdown of power from the powerhouse, exacerbating the crisis. A service engineer is expected to arrive on the island tomorrow, after which the issue is likely to be resolved. The official also cited several technical difficulties as the underlying cause of the disruptions.
Amid the ongoing crisis, residents are calling for urgent reforms in the island’s electricity infrastructure. Many believe that robust periodic maintenance protocols must be implemented in remote regions like Car Nicobar to prevent such large-scale outages in the future. With board exams in progress, uninterrupted power supply is critical, and authorities must take proactive steps to ensure that students do not suffer due to infrastructural shortcomings.