No power crisis as such in city

The Delhi government does not seem much perturbed by the harrowing time being faced by the residents because of the massive power outages, reports Moushumi Das Gupta.

Power cuts continued unabated in the Capital on Friday. Power lines tripped 63 times throughout the day resulting in up to three hours of intermittent cuts across the city.

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The city government, however, does not seem much perturbed by the harrowing time being faced by the residents because of the massive outages.

Speaking to the Hindustan Times, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit blamed the neighbouring states for the present power situation in the Capital. Asked if the dismal power situation could cost the city government the Assembly elections that are scheduled this November, Dikshit said, “I don’t think so. I know people have short memories but I think they do remember those times when there used to be no power for six to eight hours.”

Dikshit said though demand for power is increasing because of soaring temperature, the present crisis is mainly because neighbouring states are overdrawing power from the Northern Grid.

“There is no shortage of power as such in the city. Whatever load shedding is happening is because of other states overdrawing power from the grid. We will explain this to the people. We have complained to Union Minister of State for Power Jairam Ramesh to discipline the states which are endangering grid security,” she said.

Meanwhile, the Northern Region Power Committee concluded its two-day emergency meeting on Friday with all the nine states, which draw power from the Northern Grid. The committee warned the states of strict action if they continue to indiscriminately overdraw power from the grid.

“We have told the states to either discipline themselves or face heavy penalty for overdrawing power,” said a Union Power Ministry official who attended the meeting.

On Friday as well, power lines tripped 63 times in the city as neighbouring states continued to overdraw from the grid. In the afternoon, there was load shedding to the tune of 150 MW. This translated to up to three hours of power cuts across the city.

There has been no let up in the water situation in the Capital as well. Many parts of north Delhi went without water for the sixth consecutive day.

The chief minister blamed Haryana for holding back Delhi’s share of water. “We have written to the Centre. Union Minister for Water Resources Saifuddin Soz will hold a meeting in a day or two to resolve the issue,” said Dikshit.