Electrifying Bluff:

April 24/2011: The state of Orissa is dark again. Come summer and the heat, the first thing that happens is ‘power’ cut. Electricity, we were told, was available in excess to the demand in this state. That was the situation till about 3 years ago. Last year, the monsoon was weak and most of the reservoirs like Hirakud, Machkund, Rengali, Upper Kolab, Indravati and Balimela were not even half filled. Most of these water bodies, due to utter neglect in removing silt, zero maintenance as well as severe deforestation upstream, have anyways got silted up to a great extent. This has lead to their water holding capacity decreasing drastically and a resultant fall in the hydro generation ability.

The other possible major source of energy for this state is thermal. Coal is available in plenty though the quality of raw material is poor. Many players have been given the go ahead to set up thermal power plants in different parts of the state. From Sahara in Bolangir to GMR, Lanco, Bhusan, JSPL, JITPL and others in Dhenkanal and Angul belt, all these corporates are supposed to but have not yet managed to go on full steam, except probably JSPL in Angul.

This shows that no proper planning had gone into energy and fresh water requirement as well as land acquisition issues for the industries that are cropping up all over the state trying to gobble up the entire mineral and other natural resources available here. When so many MoUs were being so tantalisingly signed with flash bulbs going off and photos being printed of suited booted Babus in their fineries, none had the time to think of the very near future. They did not wait to ponder what all those signed MoU exchanging hands would mean to the people of the state and how all those ‘understandings’ would become a mass of misunderstandings between the administrators and people of Orissa.

To make matters worse, last week, we had the Chief Secretary of the state come up in front of the visual media and commit that ‘there will be no power cuts this summer.’ That was like, to say the least, a huge gaffe on the part of such a senior bureaucrat. He carries the fame of being an able administrator who may look at politicians of lower levels with scorn but has a solid following in the officialdom. That is not what is important. The murky histories of scams in the Agriculture or Water Resources department also do not concern us common citizens. Our system does allow the guilty to walk free and trouble others. It’s so mundane for us Indians that we do not bat an eye lid in such situations. What really concerns us all is that the Chief Secretary, who is supposed to have all details of the state at his finger tips, could say such a thing without bothering to check on data.

Now, the type of citizens that we are, should we not be getting short changed any which way? Of course. We deserve what is being dished out to us. The rural areas of Orissa are getting power cuts lasting anything from 3 to 8 hours a day now. Remember, this is just the beginning of summer. So also towns like Cuttack, Sambalpur, Rayagada and even the capital city of Bhubaneswar is no better off in the sense that there are daily power cuts ranging from 1 to 3 hours there also. Bravado or just not well informed, whatever it may be, the CS shooting his mouth off must have embarrassed anyone who is slightly sensitive in our government.

Therefore, it is now time for the citizens of this state to start getting pro active and asking. Ask questions to all IAS, IPS and OAS type people as to what is really happening to the state. No matter where you come across these kinds of people. Marriage receptions, social get together, book release program, foundation laying or inaugurations of toilets. Anywhere for that matter. When the crowd gets inquisitive and gathers guts enough to ask, we will not require an Anna Hazare kind of a person to emancipate us. We will enable ourselves in such a non violent and media-less manner that those who are today daring to take us all on a ride will be compelled to think twice before trying anything funny. That alone will put the fear of the ‘common man’ in their hearts and will force them to be straight and narrow and to cut out the electrifying bluffs.