16-hour power cut on industry
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 26
Facing severe power shortage, Haryana today imposed a 16-hour power cut on industry with immediate effect, which will release about 90 lakh additional units of power for the agricultural and domestic sectors.

Announcing this here today Power Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala said the restrictions on industry would continue till July 1 when the situation would be reviewed. So far industries were getting power for 16 hours.

Surjewala, however, added that the “situation is under control” and the government was committed to supplying power to tubewells for eight hours daily from July 1. Surjewala said the state government was purchasing power at rates ranging from Rs 3 to Rs 12 per unit. But the entire South-East Asia was facing an energy crisis. He attributed the crisis in the state to the unprecedented 15 per cent annual growth in the demand for power in Haryana against the national average of 8 per cent and to the delayed monsoon. He said the crisis had been aggravated by a surge in temperature and the early transplantation of paddy by farmers.

He said the decision to curtail power supply to industry was made in consultation with various associations of industrialists.

The domestic sector in the urban areas, he said, was getting power for about 18 hours while that in the rural areas for about 16 hours. He said from July 1 this supply would be increased by about two hours.

Surjewala said the state would spend about Rs 1,700 crore on purchasing power during the paddy season. He said 350 lakh to 360 lakh units would be purchased daily in July at an estimated cost of Rs 500 crore. Arrangements had been made for getting 275 lakh units daily at a cost of Rs 400 crore in August and about 285 lakh units at a cost of Rs 425 crore in September.

However, Haryana would get 10 lakh units of power less from today due to a drop in the water level in the Bhakra reservoir.

Commending the good work done by the Haryana Power Generation Corporation Surjewala said all power generating units of the state were producing optimum power. The Plant Load Factor of some generating units was 100 to 102 per cent which was comparable with the best power generating units in the country.