Tarun Karthick
Port Blair, 24 August 2022
The residents of Laxmi Nagar, Gandhi Nagar and Shastri Nagar village of Great Nicobar have been suffering from prolonged power cuts since March 2022. On occasions, the residents had to live without power for 2 days full days.
Mr. E S Rajesh, Pramukh, Panchayat Samiti, Campbell Bay and District President, Bharatiya Janata Party, Nicobar District met Mr. Binay Bhushan, IAS, Secretary (Power), Andaman and Nicobar Administration and informed him of the difficulties being faced by the residents of the three revenue villages of Laxmi Nagar Panchayat. Mr. Rajesh explained to the Secretary that a large portion of the overhead HT AB Cable has to be changed immediately for providing proper power supply to the residents. Mr. Rajesh further explained that the Electricity Department has clubbed the requirement of the cables together and is in process of calling for a combined procurement of the requirement of cables from all over the Islands, which would take considerable time.
Mr. Rajesh suggested that separate procurement should be done for the requirement of overhead HT AB Cable for Great Nicobar to provide immediate relief to the residents.
Secretary (Power) immediately instructed the concerned officials to do the needful for providing relief to the residents of the three revenue villages of Great Nicobar.
Mr. E S Rajesh also took up the issue of the shortage of manpower in the Electricity Department at Campbell Bay and suggested that the department should adopt the practice of hiring of DRMs through Panchayats, as was done earlier. Secretary (Power) ensured that required steps will be taken to ensure the availability of adequate staff.
Mr. Rajesh has thanked the Secretary (Power) for his prompt action to solve the issues of the residents of Great Nicobar.