Punjab gets respite from power cuts
Attar Singh
Tribune News Service

Patiala, July 3
The two-day rain spell has brought respite from the long power cuts that Punjab was facing on account of sweltering heat conditions.

Punjab State Electricity Board, which had been finding it hard to maintain a balance between power demand and supply, was comfortably placed today with the power demand plummeting to 1,750 lakh units. Availability of power in the state was 1,533 lakh units.

Sources in the board said here today that it had relaxed stringent curbs imposed on the industrial consumers. The seven-day cut on arc and induction furnaces has now been reduced to a weekly off.

The board also improved power supply to the agriculture sector that had seen the power demand touching a new high during paddy sowing. The farm sector was supplied power for nine hours today against six hours during the past few days. Sources added that the board was getting power from outside Punjab under purchase and banking arrangements. It was getting power from states like Karnataka and Tamil Nadu where there had been little power available last week. The board today got a total of 625 lakh units of power under the purchase and banking arrangements.

The generation of power at the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) also improved with the water level at the Gobind Sagar Lake going up from less than 1,500 feet to 1527 feet. As a result of improvement in the reservoir, power generation had also increased. Punjab got a supply of 142 lakh units from the BBMB today as its share from the project.

This supply was in addition to 157 lakh units of power that was generated at the hydel projects of the state.