People pay Rs 20 per hour to charge mobile phones in Odisha's cyclone-hit Bhadrak

Bhadrak: People in many villages in Basudevpur block of Odisha’s Bhadrak district are seen making beelines before vehicles carrying power generators to charge their mobile phone batteries as the electricity supply has been disrupted by cyclone Dana.

People are forced to pay Rs 20 per hour for recharge of one mobile phone battery and Rs 300 to lift ground water to overhead tanks in houses, said Santilata Panda, sarpanch of Bishnupur panchayat of Bhadrak district.

The local tent houses and other traders who have petrol and diesel-run generator sets are providing the paid services to the people in the locality, she said.

“I have paid Rs 20 per hour to charge my mobile phone. We request the administration to restore the power supply as soon as possible,” said a youth of Nuagaon village of the district.

Meanwhile, Tata Power, which provides electricity across Odisha, said that electricity has been restored in around 92 per cent of the affected areas and it has deployed additional teams to accelerate full restoration.

Engineers, linemen, and support staff are working closely with government agencies and local authorities, the company said in a statement.

It said that teams are working round the clock to restore damaged infrastructure, deploy mobile substations and repair power lines and crucial electrical equipment to expedite the recovery of critical infrastructure amidst blocked roads and waterlogged areas.

Severe cyclonic storm Dana struck the eastern coast in the early hours of Friday, triggering torrential rain and high-speed winds that uprooted trees and electric poles and caused significant damage to infrastructure and crops in Odisha.

The cyclone made landfall between Bhitarkanika in Kendrapara and Dhamra in Bhadrak district.