Even as the TSECL came under severe criticism from the people for resorting to hours long load shedding and erratic power cuts in the wake of Cyclone Sitrang , the MD of TSECL Debashish Sarkar claimed that the staff of the corporation worked tirelessly to restore the power service at the earliest.
Addressing a press conference the MD said, the cyclone left a devastating train in its wake disrupting the electricity service across the state.
“While power transmission lines were snapped up, electric polies were uprooted in many places. Besides the transformers were also severely damaged in some areas. All these cumulatively affected the normal power supply in the state, he said.
As many as 231 HT poles and 342 LT poles were uprooted while 45 transformers were damaged. He informed the media that estimated losses would be around Rs 1.5 crore.
“Nevertheless”, he said, “due to round the clock efforts by the TSECL staff about 80 percent of the power supply was restored and the rest will soon be completed—provided the climate remained friendly”.
Sarkar said that the power sector suffered most in South Tripura district as compared to the North district. Electric poles in numbers were uprooted at Belonia, Sabroom, Amarpur, Ampi and Jatanbari leading to disruptions in power supply”.
The MD also informed the media that the TSECL was contemplating the construction of ‘underground power transmission’ system for the entire city.
TSECL GM technical Harekrishna Das and AGM DP & C Kanaklal Das were also present at the press conference.