Villagers find heaters too hot to handle

SOHELA (BARGARH): Setting their own houses in order and as a step towards energy optimisation, the villagers of Banjari have surrendered their cooking heaters to the Wesco authorities here.  After spending a year in darkness, the villagers took a unanimous decision to hand over the heaters to escape from the frequent power breakdowns. They  invited  Section Officer of Wesco, Binayak Rout, to the village and handed over the heaters.Rampant use of heaters in the village led to power tampering and even thefts in certain cases. This led to regular power failures as the transformer would get burnt unable to bear the extra load.The village, about three km from the block headquarters, Banjari has 98 bona fide consumers and a 100 KVA transformer to meet their electricity needs. Illegal tapping of power and use of heaters saw frequent power  outages forcing untold miseries on consumers. Sources said two years back after the transformer broke down due to extra load, differences cropped up between the villagers of Banjari and neighbouring Lambrupali over outstanding dues. The Banjari villagers, after a year without electricity, paid the outstanding dues and Wesco replaced the defunct transformer. The transformer broke down again in September 2011 due to extra load. The distcom officials stated that despite installing a high-voltage transformer, illegal tapping was proving costly for the them. With only one option in sight, the villagers decided to give up heaters and pay the bills regularly to ensure that they do not have to live in darkness.