The Telangana government on Tuesday sent 1,000 employees of its Electricity Department to Odisha to help in restoration of power supply in areas affected by cyclone Fani. This followed a request by Odisha government for help as Fani which hit Odisha coast near Puri last Friday uprooted electricity poles and damaged the supply lines, plunging several villages into darkness.
Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao directed Chief Secretary S K Joshi and Telangana Transmission Corporation Chairman and Managing Director D Prabhakar Rao to provide the required assistance.
According to Chief Minister's Office, the 1,000 employees left for Odisha on Tuesday night.
This comes a day after neighbouring Andhra Pradesh also sent a team of over 2,000 workers to the cyclone-hit state.
“Fulfilling the role of a good neighbor, AP is providing all possible help to bring back normalcy in Odisha. A team of 2,055 workers, shift operators and staff from Energy Dept is deputed for rectification work so that services can be restored at a faster pace (sic),” AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu tweeted.
Meanwhile, the Central government has released Rs 1,000 crore additional assistance to Cyclone Fani-affected Odisha while stepping up work to restoring power supply and the telecommunications network.
The Home Ministry released the amount a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the announcement to assist Odisha. Earlier, Rs 341 crore was provided to the state in advance.
Stressing on early restoration of power infrastructure, the Odisha government said that following deployment of additional manpower and materials from central public sector units and neighbouring states, the power supply has been restored partially in Bhubaneswar, while a lot of ground still needed to be covered in Puri.
Department of telecommunications is coordinating with the state government to implement a priority plan for restoration of mobile and internet services in the affected areas, adding that mobile service providers have allowed free SMS and intra circle roaming in these areas.