Pradeep Jena (OERC) Chief Resigns Days After ESMA

26 May 2026, 06:53 by Vinay Kakkad · KalingaTV

Pradeep Jena stepped down from his role as Chairman of the Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC) on Monday, May 25, 2026. His resignation has attracted considerable attention, mostly because of its timing—right in the middle of a pretty tough stretch for the state’s power situation. People are talking, guessing what really pushed him to leave so suddenly.

Jena listed personal reasons for quitting in his official letter. Still, plenty of folks aren’t buying it, mostly because Odisha’s dealing with a messy power crisis right now. Power cuts are happening all over, people are angry, and the government is taking heat for how it’s handling the chaos.

The Energy Department accepted his resignation and sent out a formal notice to make it official. In the meantime, the debate around why he really left just keeps growing.

Jena’s abrupt departure comes just days after the Odisha government took the extraordinary step of invoking the Odisha Essential Services (Maintenance) Act (ESMA), 1988, signaling a state of near-emergency in the energy sector. Issued by the Home Department, the ESMA order effectively bans all strikes, work stoppages, and mass leaves for a period of six months across all critical power utilities—including GRIDCO, OPTCL, OHPC, OPGC, and all regional DISCOMs. The invocation of ESMA underscores the sheer scale of the crisis Jena was overseeing as the state’s top electricity regulator.