UP reeling under power cuts in humid and humid weather

Even after Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s warning and Energy Minister A K Sharma’s displeasure with the functioning of the state Power Department, entire Uttar Pradesh continues to reel under power cuts.

Both the urban and rural areas are facing power cuts and tripping leading to severe problems for the people in the humid and sultry weather conditions.

Advertisement

Two days ago, CM Yogi warned Power Department officials to provide electricity as per the norms during a review meeting in Lucknow. But the situation remains unaltered. State Power Minister AK Sharma also issued a warning to the officials but it too has gone unheeded. What’s more, there were power cuts even during the programmes of the minister.

Sources here on Sunday said 2,065 MW of power generation units are closed due to maintenance or low demand. There is a shortage of power in the entire state. However, the higher authorities have asked the department to monitor supply through feeders after it was reported that the villages are not getting even 10 hrs of electricity daily.

Sources said on June 10 last, at 10.45 pm, UP Power Corporation Limited made a record of supplying over 32,000 MW power supply. But yesterday the demand was pegged at 23566 MW only.

UPPC still claims 24-hour supply in urban areas and 18.50 hours supply in villages, but the reality is completely different.

There are about 3.50 crore consumers in the state with people in cities are troubled by tripping. In Lucknow itself, tripping 8 to 10 times in 24 hours has become a common thing while the condition of rural areas is worse.

There is a difference of about eight hours between the claim of power supply and reality and the Power Department claims this difference as a local fault.

UPPCL Chairman Dr. Ashish Kumar Goyal, said that, “A strategy has been devised at the feeder level to remove local faults. Improvements are being made from wires to transformers. Improvement works are being done under the RDSS scheme. Its effect will be visible soon. Consumers must pay the bill for the electricity they consume. This will speed up the work of power improvement and everyone will get relief.”

Meanwhile, sources said 2,065 MW power generation is not available in the state. In the government sector, the 660 MW unit of Obra’s unit two is closed due to boiler leakage and the 200 MW unit of unit nine is closed due to other technical problems. Similarly, the 105 MW unit of Harduaganj and the 660 MW unit of Panki have been closed till August 5 due to low demand of electricity. The four 440 MW units of Tanda in the private sector have also been closed till July 31 due to low demand.