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Uttar Pradesh in grip of severe power crisis

Sharat Pradhan in Lucknow

Repeated disruptions at some of Uttar Pradesh's major power generation units over the past few days have led to the state facing an unprecedented power crisis.

Heavy load-shedding and power cuts have been ordered all over the state, even as the soars to 44 degrees Celsius, making life difficult for people.

Irrigation too has been badly hit because of inadequate power supply to the rural areas.

"The state's power generation dipped to an alarming low owing to the sudden tripping of a 500 mega watt unit at Anpara and a 200 MW unit at Obra Thermal Power plant," informed a UP Power Corporation spokesman.

"Today's generation stood at just about 2,500 MW, including 500 MW of hydro electric power, while about 2,670 MW power was being taken from the National Thermal Power Corporation which has a major presence in Shakti Nagar in South-Eastern Uttar Pradesh," he said.

Alok Ranjan, a top official handling the power sector in the state chief minister's secretariat, said: "This is the worst situation we have faced in recent times and with the peak demand shooting up to an unprecedented 6,247 MW, there is a shortfall of about 1,100 MW."

"Efforts are on to restore the two damaged generating units in Anpara and Obra, but it would still take at least three more days to bring the power situation back to normal," he said.

Meanwhile, there was no possibility of any increase in hydro-electric generation, as the water level in the major reservoirs feeding the hydro power units generally remained low during the summer months.

"Normally, the gap between demand and supply of power usually widens during summers, but the problem is particularly severe this time because of the sudden breakdown at two big power generation centers," Ranjan said.

This has left the administration with no alternative but to effect widespread power-cuts throughout the state.

Officials admitted that power cuts in the bigger towns were of the order of 4-5 hours, but some reports the actual situation as much worse.

P P Rastogi, the chief engineer of the power corporation's systems control, said: "Smaller towns were receiving 15 hours of daily supply, while at least 7-8 hour supply was being maintained in the rural areas."

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