Odisha Energy Minister Atanu S Nayak told PTI, "We have been able to provide power to consumers in less then 3 hours of the eastern grid collapse by drawing electricity from different hydro-power generation stations, captive power plants and state's own thermal units.
"We immediately supplied power to Railways on priority basis as passengers are standard at many stations," he said adding the state government had also supplied power to thermal electricity generation centres of NTPC at Kanhia and Talcher for it to 'start up'.
"We have decided to go for periodic power cuts in certain areas till the situation normalises," he said.
Claiming that most of the 30 districts of the state were now being supplied electricity, the minister, however, admitted that Balasore, Bhadrak, Keonjhar and Mayurbhanj districts were in darkness.
The state government was optimistic of restoring normalcy very soon after generation of power from NTPC's thermal units began, he said.
While the state was availing about 900 MW from different hydel power units, it got about 400 MW from captive generation plants. About 380 MW of power was also availed from state's own thermal power plant at Ib valley area.
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The state requires another 1,000 MW during peak hours which it gets from the eastern grid and central pool.
Asked about restoration of power, Nayak said, "Once NTPC's Kanhia and Talcher thermal power units become operational, we will get the total generation as power cannot be sent to any other state under the prevailing situation."