After the fury of cyclone Fani subsided, the power supply and infrastructure in Odisha were in total disarray.

Reportedly the strongest cyclone to have hit any Indian state in the last 20 years, Fani had wreaked havoc to Odisha’s power infrastructure.

Public sector Navaratna Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PGCIL) under the Ministry of Power, is currently working for the restoration of power supply in the state, a release from BIB has stated.

Fani had caused massive damage to power supply infrastructure, particularly in coastal Odisha, uprooting lakhs of electric poles, transformers and by crumpling of towers. Mercom had reported how during this time of crisis, solar-powered water pumps came to the rescue of people stuck amid water scarcity and no power supply.

PGCIL is helping restore power with techniques like ERS (Emergency Restoration System). Moreover, it is pooling its one thousand specialized manpower from the neighboring states of West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh to assist the state entities like OPTCL (Odisha Power Transmission Corporation Limited) and CESU (Central Electricity Supply Utility).

It has created specific 24×7 control rooms at various strategic locations providing timely assistance and feedback to its teams and state entities at ground zero. PGCIL has arranged three high capacity distributed generation sets, large number of electric line poles, conductors, insulators and other line materials for Bhubaneswar, Puri, Kendrapada and Jagatsinghpur stores of CESU for the quick restoration of power supply.

The company is also helping state entity OPTCL in the restoration of the 132 kV line to Puri over ERS which is expected to be charged in a day or two, the release informed.

PGCIL, which is associated with building and maintenance of infrastructure in the power sector in India even in inhospitable terrains, received another feather in its cap when it connected Leh and Kargil, to the national electricity grid, after 72 years of India’s independence.