The West Bengal government indicated on Sunday that the Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation (CESC), a RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group company, was responsible for the failure to restore power in many areas 100 hours after super cyclone Amphan hit the State. Firhad Hakim, State Minister and administrator of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), said that people were “inconvenienced by the CESC.”
This is the first time since the Trinamool Congress (TMC) came to power that it is speaking publicly against the CESC, owned by one of the top business houses of Kolkata.
“People are inconvenienced by the CESC. Additional 360 persons are deployed to chop trees. But people were in trouble, we are sorry. (Functioning of) CESC is not the responsibility of the KMC or the State government. They informed that power was restored in 50% of the neighbourhood,” said Mr. Hakim, considered to be the one of the top TMC leaders close to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. On Saturday, Ms. Banerjee visited the CESC headquarters in Esplanade in the city’s central area and reportedly questioned the corporation on the restoration of power supply.
Mr. Hakim further said that the CESC did not provide a list of the trees which were lying all over the city. “The problem is not just because trees could not be removed. CESC told us they did not have enough staff…the Chief Secretary had a word with CESC today.”