Bhubaneswar: As mercury rises, deputy chief minister and energy minister K V Singh Deo on Monday directed power distribution companies not to disconnect electricity supply of domestic consumers over pending bills.Singh Deo said the order will remain in force until the onset of monsoon, while also instructing discoms not to carry out power cuts without prior public intimation. “This direction has been issued for the summer months until the onset of the monsoon,” Singh Deo said.He said the govt does not want people to suffer during the summer months. Stressing the need for uninterrupted power supply, he warned discoms against resorting to arbitrary outages. “We had also told the power distribution companies not to indulge in power cuts during the summer season,” the deputy CM said.Singh Deo added that if electricity supply has to be interrupted for repair or maintenance work, consumers must be informed in advance through SMS and other communication channels so that they can prepare accordingly.The directive comes at a time when the India Meteorological Department has forecast a further rise in temperatures across Odisha. Manorama Mohanty, director of IMD Bhubaneswar, said day temperatures are likely to increase by 2 to 4 degree Celsius in several parts of the state next week.She said districts in south and western Odisha are expected to experience heatwave conditions, while people in coastal districts are likely to face uncomfortable and humid weather in the coming days. The govt’s move follows complaints from several parts of the state over outages, adding to public distress.Residents expressed hope that the minister’s direction will bring relief. “Unscheduled power cuts during summer season is like punishing people without having committed any offence. I hope power distribution companies will follow the deputy chief minister’s order,” said Sujit Nayak, a resident of Rajnagar in Kendrapada district.“With temperatures set to climb further, the state govt’s focus is now on ensuring that households are not left without electricity during one of the harshest periods of the year,” said a senior energy department officer.
