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UP power crisis: Addl electricity leads to slight improvement on Day 1
There was only a marginal improvement in the power supply in the state on Sunday despite the UP Power Corporation Ltd (UPPCL) having injected more than 1,600 MW additional power in the grid to ease the prevailing electricity crisis even as top officials held a meeting in Shakti Bhawan to monitor the situation
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There was only a marginal improvement in the power supply in the state on Sunday despite the UP Power Corporation Ltd (UPPCL) having injected more than 1,600 MW additional power in the grid to ease the prevailing electricity crisis even as top officials held a meeting in Shakti Bhawan to monitor the situation.
The current electricity crisis continuing for around a month now is being attributed to an increased demand resulting from intensifying heatwave and due to reduced generation because of coal crunch in thermal plants on one hand and shutdown of some power production units due to technical glitches on the other.
“Though the UPPCL did arrange an additional power to the tune of more than 1,600 MW from various sources, this failed to improve the situation much on the first day on Sunday when the demand-supply gap still remained as high as 2,000 MW-2,500 MW resulting in load shedding in rural areas, semi-urban areas and tehsil-level towns up to 5-7 hours,” an official requesting anonymity said.
Energy minister Arvind Kumar Sharma said that all possible attempts were being made to increase power supply in the state. “The UPPCL has started getting additional power from different sources from today (Sunday) and it will help ease the crisis,” he said in a written statement.
He said he had directed officials to ensure that coal rakes were offloaded in minimum possible time so that they could make more trips to transport coal to the thermal plants. “A strict monitoring is also being made of complaints being received on the 1912 toll-free number with a view to ensuring quick repair of local breakdowns,” Sharma said.
Meanwhile, UPPCL chairman M Devraj held a meeting with senior officials at Shakti Bhawan here on Sunday to take stock of the situation and act accordingly. Taking a serious notice of complaints that the toll-free number (1912) often did not respond, he asked officials to see to it that the helpline was always responsive and power supply complaints were redressed promptly.
He also held a telephonic conversation with the power system operation corporation chairman urging him to make more and affordable electricity available to UP through the energy exchange. He also had a word with Bharat Cocking Coal Ltd (BCCL) managing director and urged him to ensure speedy supply of quality coal to the state’s thermal plants.
Devraj said UP had started getting additional power to the tune of more than 1,600 MW from the intervening night of Saturday-Sunday because of which power supply had increased from one to one-and-a-half hours.
“We are also making efforts on a war footing to repair some of the power units that have been closed for technical reasons. The situation will further improve once these units start generation,” he said.
He also directed discom MDs to ensure preventive maintenance of transformers in keeping with the earlier guidelines. Union power secretary Alok Kumar also called up UPPCL officials here assuring them of all the support in dealing with the power crisis in the state.
