Worsening power scenario leaves state in shock
PSPCL imposes restrictions on spinning and textile units
Domestic consumers reel under unscheduled cuts
Umesh Dewan/TNS

Patiala, July 3
The power scenario in the state has worsened further with the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) resorting to unscheduled power cuts across the state. The corporation has also decided to impose regulatory measures on continuous processing industry (Category IV), which mainly includes spinning and textile units, from Wednesday. A circular in this regard was issued this evening. The PSPCL has put restrictions on this category during off peak load hours.

With the demand for power witnessing an unprecedented increase of 22 per cent, the state continues to reel under power crisis. It has been almost 10 days since the problem of power shortage aggravated. Now the situation has worsened further. Besides scheduled power cuts in the domestic sector and weekly offs on industrial units, the PSPCL is imposing unscheduled power cuts in the domestic sector. Farmers are also complaining that they are getting power supply for just three to four hours a day whereas the PSPCL had assured them of eight-hour supply.

With rain eluding the state and the mercury soaring, people are struggling to beat the heat on account of the prevailing power crisis. Reports from various parts of the state reveal that four to six hours of unscheduled power cuts are being imposed in urban areas whereas people in rural areas are having sleepless nights because of power cuts for 10-12 hours.

Farmers stare at loss

The situation is worrying for the farming community which is in the process of transplanting paddy. "Farmers are being provided power for just three to four hours. With paddy sowing in progress, irrigating fields without adequate power supply will be difficult. If the situation does not improve, we will incur losses," claimed Jagtar Singh, a farmer of Ramnagar village. "A transformer in Lang village has not been operational for the past three days, but the authorities have not bothered to repair or replace it," said Balbir Singh.

Dr Mangal Singh Sandhu, Director, Agriculture, Punjab, said: "As far as problems relating to technical snags in the network catering to agricultural pumpset (AP) category are concerned, the deputy commissioners of respective districts are supposed to take necessary action".

Patiala Deputy Commissioner GK Singh said he had instructed the PSPCL officials to attend to the complaints of farmers on a priority.

Industry flays PSPCL

The industry is also facing the heat due to the prevailing situation. With a two-day weekly off imposed on most units, the industrial community is mincing no words to condemn the PSPCL. "The way power problem has aggravated makes it clear that planning for the summer season by the PSPCL is based on unauthentic calculations," said DS Chawla, an industrialist.

Badish K Jindal, president, Federation of Punjab Small Industries Association, and Mahinder Gupta, president, Induction Furnaces Association, Mandi Gobindgarh, said: "With two weekly offs, the Punjab industry, which is already passing through a bad phase, is bound to suffer".

Expert speak

Bhupinder Singh, senior vice-president, PSEB Engineers' Association, said capacitors should be installed on agricultural pumpsets to reduce the load. "Shifting of metres outside the establishments should be accelerated as it will help prevent power theft," he said. Padamjit Singh, chairman, All-India Power Engineers Federation, said augmentation of the transmission and distribution system was a must. "For this, a capital expenditure plan has to be drawn up and submitted to the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission along with the aggregate revenue requirement (ARR). Augmentation is required on a planned and long-term basis to match capacity addition in generation".

Blame it on grid constraints: Chaudhri

Constraints on drawing power from the Northern Grid have worsened the situation, said KD Chaudhri, Chairman-cum-Managing Director, PSPCL, at a press conference here today. He said it was not possible to flow further power into the system. Admitting that the corporation had resorted to unscheduled power cuts, Chaudhri said: "Arrangements for the summer season were made keeping in mind that the monsoon would be normal. But due to severe dry weather, there is an unprecedented rise in the demand for power. On July 1, the state saw an all-time high demand for 2,244 lakh units (LU) whereas the PSPCL could provide 1,950 LU. Now, because of grid constraints, the corporation is not able to bridge the demand-supply gap of 300 LU," he said.