Power woes highten in Kalyanpur as contractor suspend repair work

Power supply in Kalyanpur has been severely disrupted as contractors refused to carry out maintenance works citing pending dues. In several areas, the maintenance had been put on hold due to rising disagreements between the local contractors and the state owned power utility.

According to sources, several contractors engaged by the power department had suspended work citing non-payment of bills running into several lakhs of rupees. The issue is not confined to Kalyanpur alone, with similar complaints emerging from other parts of the state.

The situation was further compounded by continuous rainfall over the past few days, which led to widespread damage to power lines in Kalyanpur. 

Uprooted trees and waterlogging in several areas disrupted supply, leaving many localities without electricity.

Contractors had reportedly conveyed to the department that work would remain suspended until their pending payments were cleared. 

“We had no option but to stop work as dues had accumulated over a long period,” a contractor associated with the department said.

However, the standoff appears to have eased following intervention by senior officials. Contractor Shambhu Kishore Roy said that the Managing Director of the department and the minister had stepped in on Wednesday and assured that all pending payments would be cleared within 10 days.

“After receiving the assurance, contractors resumed work from Thursday,” Roy said.

Despite the resumption of work, concerns persist among locals over recurring outages.