kolkata: In a bid to ensure an uninterrupted power supply during Puja and also to present incident-free festivals across Bengal, the state power department has deployed around 70,000 employees, including the contractual workers, who will be on streets till Jagadhhatri Puja. More than 2,000 mobile vans will also be deployed to repair if any technical glitches are reported from any areas.
State power minister Aroop Biswas held a meeting at Vidyut Bhawan with various power development and distribution agencies under the State and Central government and other stakeholders to review preparations taken by the department to ensure smooth power supply during the Puja days.
Biswas after the meeting told the media that around 1,536 offices of the department will operate round-the-clock which include around 77 divisional offices, 5 zonal offices and 536 call centers. All the employees of the department, including senior officials, will work round-the-clock. Leaves of the employees have been cancelled.
"Power department employees remain on the streets during the festive season and work hand-in-hand with the police and the fire department employees. There will be around 50,199 contractual workers and around 19,678 permamnet employees of the department will be on the streets during the Puja days so that any inconveniences can be addressed on a war footing," Biswas said.
As many as 1,490 LT mobile vans and around 873 HT mobile vans will be stationed in various strategic locations in the days of Puja. Power department is assuming that around 45,000 Puja committees, including big household Pujas, will apply for electricity connections this year. In 2021, the power department had received around 40,124 such applications.
"The number of Puja committees has increased by 91 per cent between 2011 and 2021. In 2011, there were around 20,970 Puja committees applying for connections while in 2021, we received around 40,124 applications for Puja connections. Durga Puja committees will be able to apply for the connection from September 25 as the window will start operating. Laxmi Puja connection will be given on October 9-10 while the Kali Puja organisers can apply for connections from October 20-28," Biswas said.
Control rooms will operate till Jagadhhatri Puja. The call center numbers for Bengal are 8900793503/8900793504. The toll free number is 19121. Power minister appealed to the licensed contractors of the puja committees to submit a letter mentioning the exact requirement of power as demand-supply mismatch can trigger an incident.
State saw a demand of 8,005 mega watt power on the day of Saptami last year which this year the demand may go up to 9,115 mega watt on the day of Saptami. On the day of Ashtami last year, there was a demand of 7,778 MW while this year the demand may go up to 8,800 mw.