If Nero fiddled while Rome burned, the Odisha power regulators are not far behind. While 25 districts of the state were sinking under water due to devastating floods following cyclone Phailin and the power sector was reeling under massive loss of close to Rs 1,408 crore, the Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) was hosting a meet for eastern and north eastern regulators at the beach resort in Puri on October 26.

The meet was ostensibly to discuss renewable energy capacity of the state and ways and means to meet RPO obligations.

Incidentally Puri is one of the cyclone and flood affected districts with the abode of Lord Jagannath itself suffering from inundation in the Bada Danda and other outlying areas. However, this did not deter the regulatory spirit. Twenty regulators from 10 eastern and north eastern states were flown down to Bhubaneswar and escorted to Puri by a fleet of luxury cars. They were wined and dined at the five star holiday resort and taken for sightseeing to the dolphin sanctuary at Satapada, While thousands of people struggled for survival without power or basic amenities in temporary shelters.

Power supply has been disrupted in the large tracts of Odisha after repeated low pressure formations over the coast led to continual heavy downpour since October 12. This has put most of the state’s major rivers in spate. According to conservative estimates, full restoration of supply to the worst hit Ganjam and Gajapati districts may take around a month.

OERC is the monitoring and supervisory body for the state power sector but when asked about steps taken by OERC to restores supply, secretary G K Dhall was tight lipped about the issue. He remained non committal about funding for the junket, claiming that expenses were met from subscriptions of the commissions themselves though sources in OPTCL confirmed that part of the cost of the meet was hosted by the state transmission utility which is badly hit by the natural disaster.

S P Nanda, chairperson and S P Swain and B K Misra, members were unavailable for comment. P K Jena, commissioner cum secretary for energy, government of Odisha who has been tirelessly touring the state to expedite restoration of supply to vital installations said there is zero per cent solar energy in the state. Sources in the PED which were hard pressed to make arrangements for the sightseeing were critical as they had to divert much needed manpower and resources for the purpose.