Lucknow: Power crisis in Uttar Pradesh has deepened with many generation units being closed due to technical snags or annual maintenance. For the last four days, there has been a drop of around 2500 to 3000 megawatts in the electricity generation in UP causing massive power cuts in villages as well as cities. There has been a 5 to 8 hours power cut in villages these days while in big cities the supply has been irregular.
According to the officials of the energy department, six power plants in UP have been shut for the annual maintenance this week whereas a similar number of units have been closed due to technical snagging.
Power units at Bara and Tanda to start operating soon
Though the UP Power Generation Corporation Limited (UPPGCL) has repaired four of these units yet, the production of one unit each at the Bara and Tanda power plant could not begin. The officials said that in the next 24 hours, the units at Bara and Tanda would start generation.
Power supply situation in UP worsened due to the closure of 660 MW units of Bara, 500 MW units of Rihand, 660 MW of Tanda, and 300 MW in Roja power plants. Besides the 500 MW unit of Unchahaar and 105 MW unit I Harduaganj also closed due to a snag this week.
Reasons behind power crisis in UP
The energy minister of UP, AK Sharma while accepting the crisis said that the flood in Sikkim, annual maintenance in a few of the units, and technical snag has been the main reason behind this. He, however, said that very soon normalcy would be restored and by October 18, when the Durga Puja begins, the power supply would be back on track. The minister said that at present there is a gap of around 3000 megawatt between the demand and supply. On Thursday the demand in UP was 21500 megawatt against the availability of 19472 megawatt. He claimed that by October 18 the available electricity in UP would be around 20220 megawatt. The demand will also come down due to a drop in temperature.
It may be mentioned that as per the roaster, the villages in UP are to be supplied 18 hours and 21.30 hours to the towns. For the last five days, there has been a power outage of 5 hours in villages and three hours in small towns. The big cities too have not been spared and are facing at least two hour power cuts.
