Power was restored to the Visakhapatnam steel plant and airport by Thursday morning and efforts were also being made to restore power to the IT special economic zones at Rushikonda and the units in the AP SEZ at Parawada and the units in the pharma city, according to Ajay Jain, State Energy Secretary.

Reviewing the power situation here on Thursday morning, he said the priority was to restore power to the domestic consumers.

He said, “By tonight we will provide power to 2.5 lakh connections. The Chief Minister has left instructions that by Saturday power should be provided to the entire city. We may fall a little short of his expectations and the public’s expectations. However, we are confident that we will be able to cover 80-90 per cent of the city by Saturday evening.

In certain areas, the damage is heavy and there are also certain logistical and technical problems impeding progress.”

He said efforts were also being made to restore power to the rural areas in Visakhapatnam district.

“However, it may take much longer to reach the remote villages in the Eastern Ghats. We could restore power Araku sub-station,” he said.

He said efforts were also being made to restore power to Vizianagaram and Srikakulam towns and the other areas in those two districts.

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“We are receiving electric poles and other material from Hyderabad and Bhubaneswar and at present more than 9,000 men are at work. We are deploying 2,500 more personnel from neighbouring States,” he said.

The steel plant authorities said that at first, efforts will be made to activate the captive power plant and also the blast furnace and coke oven batteries. Production cannot be resumed immediately, but the key units will be kept in readiness.

“It is the first step in restoring normalcy,” said a senior official.

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