This text is revealed in partnership with Tata Energy. 

The storms that check electrical energy

The wind stung like sand on pores and skin. In a flooded lane exterior Ganjam, a lineman steadied a pole as rain hurled sideways, whereas his crew inched ahead with ropes and ladders. 

“Folks immediately can’t think about an evening with out electrical energy,” says Chandan Das, Superintendent Engineer, TPSODL. “Even when automobiles couldn’t transfer, our folks carried poles on their shoulders.”

Odisha, on India’s japanese coast, has lengthy lived with nature’s extremes. Summers right here can climb to a blistering 50 °C — so unforgiving that the state enforces a ban on outside work between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. The Bay of Bengal usually brews cyclones — Fani in 2019, Yaas in 2021, and Dana in 2024 — which flatten energy traces and networks inside hours. 

Within the distant forest interiors, the place even cellular indicators vanish, electrical energy staff haven’t any selection however to trek for kilometres, balancing poles and tools on their backs to achieve damaged traces.

When Cyclone Dana struck in 2024, the harm was catastrophic. Complete stretches of the ability community disappeared in a single day. “Our energy community was destroyed inside hours,” recollects Gajanan Kale, Chief of Odisha Distribution Enterprise at Tata Energy. “However our groups, the state authorities, catastrophe administration, even villagers with tractors — everybody got here collectively. That’s why hospitals and households had energy again before folks believed attainable.”

This difficult-won readiness is comparatively new. Earlier than 2020, Odisha’s grid was amongst India’s weakest: AT&C losses exceeded 30%, meters and transformers had been unreliable, and religion within the system — whether or not from villagers or business — was low.

In the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, the state made a daring, dangerous selection: it entered a public–personal partnership with Tata Energy, India’s most trusted energy utility with a century of expertise and a monitor document of remodeling energy distribution in Delhi and Mumbai. The purpose was easy however daunting — rebuild belief and reliability. 

A strategic and daring step 

For villagers and engineers alike, belief was solely step one. Delivering dependable energy throughout one in every of India’s hardest terrains known as for a daring structural shift. At that second, amid the pandemic, Odisha handed over 4 distribution firms — TPCODL, TPNODL, TPWODL, TPSODL — whereas the nation struggled to maintain its lights on. “We took over the primary discom in June 2020, after which the others adopted,” Kale remembers. “Sure, COVID made the setting unsure and sophisticated, however transformation by no means occurs in consolation zones.”

Tata Energy took a 51% stake; the state retained 49%. What they inherited was immense: a accountability to serve 5 crore folks throughout a 1,50,000 sq km expanse, vulnerable to catastrophic cyclones, punishing warmth, and violent storms (kalbaisakhis).

“We needed to begin from scratch in lots of locations,” he recollects. “Outdated data had been outdated, and customers had misplaced belief. The primary process was to rebuild confidence, so we centered on correct payments, well timed response, and dependable provide.”

Over Rs 5,900 crore has since gone into substations, feeders, and cabling. Good meters changed guide readings. In Bhubaneswar, India’s first Energy Distribution Know-how Centre now tracks the grid in actual time, enabling sooner restoration. “Earlier, complaints had no response,” Das explains. “Now even a missed name will get a reply.”

Buyer care centres and 24×7 helplines gave folks a voice. Native distributors had been educated and roped in, guaranteeing that even throughout cyclones, poles and transformers could possibly be provided. Almost Rs 16,000 crore value of contracts — largely with native MSMEs — have stayed inside the state.

As Kale places it, “If we are able to make this mannequin work in rural Odisha, then the alternatives are limitless throughout India.” 5 years on, the state’s discoms rank amongst India’s greatest, with A+ rankings marking a turnaround born in disaster.

The human grid behind the wires

Behind the expertise and the crores invested, it’s actually individuals who have carried Odisha’s energy story ahead. Day by day, greater than 15,000 engineers, linemen, and workers preserve the community alive — and virtually 90% of them are locals who know the land, the climate, and the folks they serve. 

This underscores that the transformation is basically pushed by the folks. By combining deep area experience with native community data and a shared dedication to excellence, everybody labored collectively— and that made this transformation attainable.

For workers, the work assessments endurance. Das recollects wading by means of waist-deep water, carrying rolls of wires as a result of automobiles couldn’t go. “I bear in mind Parsali village in Rayagada. For many years, there was no electrical energy, and at last, we introduced mild there. The happiness on their faces was unforgettable.” 

Tales like Parsali aren’t exceptions — they seize the spirit that defines Odisha’s energy journey. That very same resilience reveals up each time cyclones strike. Throughout Dana, for example, groups labored round the clock, even utilizing boats to achieve low-lying villages. Locals hauled poles or cleared roads. 

Ladies staff labored shoulder to shoulder to form the change. In Bhubaneswar, an all-women crew runs the good meter testing lab. “All of the meters going into houses or industries are examined by ladies,” Kale notes. “They convey self-discipline, innovation, and new vitality to this work.” 

In rural districts, company-supported self-help group (SHG) members, akin to Niroj Nalini Mishra and Manjulata Sahu, bridge the hole between the corporate and customers. Nalini recollects, “I linked folks to buyer care, approached the part head, and inside an hour, the issue was mounted. Folks had been glad and paid their payments.” 

For Manjulata, the distinction reveals in her personal confidence. “Whereas engaged on company-backed group outreach programmes, I’ve gained confidence in talking with folks. I’ve learnt to unravel clients’ issues with persistence and efficient communication.”

In the meantime, even the native youth are taking over new alternatives. ITI graduates and engineering college students practice in buyer care, command centres, and discipline operations — constructing a neighborhood, future-ready workforce by means of the ‘Campus Join’ programme.

These heroes kind the human grid behind the wires — constructing belief, resilience, and a mannequin for a talented India.

Confidence, carried on a present

5 years after the takeover, Odisha’s sector seems reworked. AT&C losses have halved — from over 30% to almost 16%, higher than the nationwide common. Outages that after lasted days after a cyclone now finish inside hours.

For farmers like Rabi Pradhan in Bargarh, regular electrical energy fuels funding. “Earlier, we had been all the time ready close to the borewell, uncertain if water would come. Crops failed when wires went down,” he recollects. “Now, we irrigate as per the crop’s wants. Our Kharif harvests are sound, and we’ve recovered the price of our carry irrigation factors.”

Industries, too, as soon as cautious, are returning. A chilly-storage unit proprietor from Bhubaneswar recollects dropping over Rs 2 lakh of inventory throughout a 14-hour outage in 2019. “Again then, it felt unsustainable. As we speak, outages are uncommon and brief. We’ve expanded, employed extra workers, and even put in automated packaging tools that doubles output.” 

His story mirrors a bigger shift. Dependable energy has restored confidence, turning western Odisha into an industrial hub the place consumption has almost doubled over 4 to 5 years.

For girls like Nalini, the features are private. “Due to the billing and assortment work assigned to me by the discoms, I pays for my kids’s schooling and their meals,” she says. Her children, she provides, are completely satisfied she will be able to fulfil their needs. 

Festivals share the impression as properly: in 2025, the Jagannath Rath Yatra noticed uninterrupted provide for lakhs of devotees. Forward of each cyclone, the 4 discoms mobilise a 15,000-strong workforce, stockpile poles and spares, and pool sources throughout areas — guaranteeing restoration begins inside hours, not days.

In Simlipal’s tribal belt, 18 microgrids now mild 70 villages that by no means had reliable energy. As Kale says, “It’s not nearly improved figures. It’s concerning the dignity and confidence electrical energy has given to thousands and thousands of households.”

Why change took sweat and belief

Odisha’s energy story took persistence. Every cyclone examined the system, forcing engineers to rebuild. 

The hurdles didn’t finish with storms. Legacy inefficiencies had left staff demotivated and communities distrustful. “We needed to resolve these points with the assist of unions and staff,” Kale explains. “As soon as folks noticed equity return, their motivation doubled.”

For Das, perseverance grew to become a behavior. “Earlier, I lacked dedication as a result of there was no manpower or materials. I’d kind village committees, however I couldn’t ship,” he says. “Now, if I commit, it occurs.” 

Lighting a path for India

5 years on, the outcomes converse. States from Uttar Pradesh to Madhya Pradesh examine Odisha as a blueprint. As Kale says, “Empower your native groups, use expertise because the spine, and handle change with empathy. Odisha reveals that even the hardest terrains might be reworked if folks, management, and expertise work collectively.”

In villages as soon as darkish at sundown, kids now examine underneath regular mild. Farmers irrigate with out nervousness. Small companies run easily, factories develop, and rural households cost telephones, run followers, and lightweight kitchens with out fear. 

This journey can be a part of the state’s imaginative and prescient of ‘Viksit Odisha, Viksit Bharat’, a reminder that when dedicated organisations and native communities work collectively, they will mild up lives.

That is greater than Odisha’s story. It’s proof that when resilience meets belief and native arms take the lead, even the harshest storms can’t maintain again progress. A motion that has lit up a complete state — and proven the remainder of India what’s attainable, with the public-private partnership mannequin rising as a most popular companion in progress.

Edited by Leila Badyari