Tarun Karthick
Port Blair, 16 March 2023
Mr. TSG Bhasker, Campaign Committee Chairman, Andaman and Nicobar Territorial Congress Committee has written to the Hon’ble Lt.Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, demanding withdrawal of order No. 642 issued by Andaman and Nicobar Administartion for demand side management of electricity.
In his letter, Mr. Bhasker mentioned, “In this era of modernisation and technological advancement, we are going back to the olden days where we used to have a limited supply of electricity. This has happened due to poor policy making of the Electricity Department and A & N Administration”.
He alleged, “There is no regular SE or EE in Electricity Department to manage various sections of the department from several years. The Administration has also not taken any steps to fill up these posts . As a result, the issues of Islanders now remain unheard and are not addressed in a time bound manner”.
Mr. Bhasker mentioned in his letter that the Congress Party will strongly protest against such curtailment of electricity.
He said that it is surprising that the shops and establishments who do not have generator and inverter are being forced to close their businesses by 07:00 Pm.
He also mentioned that the Hotel Industry is already suffering due to non-availability of flights due to runway closure for 04 days and more in a month. He added that the order for use of generators from 05:00 Pm to 08:30 Pm is not reasonable or justified.
Mr. Bhasker suggested that immediate steps should be taken to initiate the 50 MW LNG Power Plant project planned at Hope Town.
He requested the Lt. Governor to consider the genuine request and take corrective measures to provide uninterrupted power supply to the Islanders.