Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Wednesday directed the state power department to take necessary measures to prevent incidences of electrocution in flood-affected areas.
He also asked the department to assess the condition of all transformers, electric poles and transmission lines and repair the same at the earliest to stop the possibility of any untoward incident.
Reviewing the activities of the power department, the Chief Minister further emphasized the need for expeditious completion of electricity connections to all remaining villages in the state.
Sonowal also directed the officials to issue a public notice urging people of the villages which do not have electricity connection yet to contact the department for installing necessary transmission lines.
Sonowal also asked the department to hold a meeting with the Industry and Commerce Department to ensure an adequate supply of electricity for the proposed industries in the state.
Further, stating the state government’s commitment to boost the agriculture sector and ensuring remunerative prices for farmers, the Chief Minister asked the officials to provide uninterrupted power supply to the cold storages to house agricultural produce.
Moreover, underlining the need for generating awareness among consumers to make regular payment of electricity bills, the Chief Minister directed the officials to adopt a more professional approach.
He also stressed on the timely meeting of sub-division level monitoring and evaluation committees of the Power Department and asked the officials to take help of the local MLAs in this regard.
The Chief Minister also lauded the role of Power Department officials for their dedicated service to the public amid COVID-19 pandemic.
The Power Department officials informed the Chief Minister that during the last four years, 47 thousand bamboo and wooden electricity poles were replaced with concrete poles.
Besides, a Customer Relations Department including a call centre (complaint), MyBijulee App, customer care, e-mail, WhatsApp services has been opened, the officials informed adding that while the department presently has 56 lakh consumers, 42 per cent of its total revenue comes from 13 thousand consumers.