People pay Rs 20 per hour to charge mobile phones in Odisha’s cyclone-hit Bhadrak

People in many villages in Basudevpur block of Odisha’s Bhadrak district are seen making beelines before vehicles carrying power generators to charge their mobile phone batteries as the electricity supply has been disrupted by cyclone Dana.

People are forced to pay Rs 20 per hour for recharge of one mobile phone battery and Rs 300 to lift ground water to overhead tanks in houses, said Santilata Panda, sarpanch of Bishnupur panchayat of Bhadrak district.