Power Situation
Little relief on day one
Naveen S Garewal
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 29
The government’s claims of the power situation having improved after it purchased 100 MW from West Bengal notwithstanding, people across Punjab did not see much change on the first day after the announcement. In Patiala the power situation worsened with an additional hour of power cut while people in Ludhiana and Amritsar reported a slight improvement.

The government had with much fanfare announced yesterday that the power situation in the state would improve as the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) had tied up with the West Bengal Government for procuring 100 MW of power on the basis of “banking”. Hoping for some relief, people in Punjab were disappointed when they got little relief.

Yesterday Punjab had announced that life would become more comfortable in this festive season as the state had already started receiving additional power that would lead to a drastic reduction in the power cuts from the current 8-9 hours to 4 hours in the domestic sector. Readers of The Tribune in Patiala said the frequency of unscheduled power cuts had increased and there was more disruption than usual.

Ludhiana residents, however, reported better power supply in the domestic areas. To begin with, the PSEB did away with the 6 to 7 am cut and then the power was restored at 10 am instead of 11.30 am after imposing a cut at 8.30 am. Sources, however, added that the problem of tripping in certain areas continued as much as frequent non-scheduled cuts in the Civil Lines area. They, however, reported a slight improvement in the overall situation. “Earlier I used to spend Rs 500 on diesel daily. Today the diesel did not finish”, said a local businessman.

Reports from Amritsar, too, said there was a slight improvement in power situation, but there was hardly any change in the frequency of unscheduled cuts. The cuts in Amritsar were reportedly down from 8 hours to about 6 hours.

The government has claimed that it currently has nearly 400 MW more power today as compared to the same period last year, but the demand had increased by over 30 per cent.