Electricity supply, it seems, has left the Punjab Government powerless with demand exceeding the supply by nearly 1500 MW (megawatt). Reeling under the severe unprecedented power shortage amid extreme temperatures, the Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Thursday ordered curtailment in timings of the State Government offices from Friday, and cutting down of power supply to high energy consuming industries with immediate effect, to save crops and ease the domestic power situation.
At the same time, the Chief Minister appealed to all government offices to make judicious use of electricity in government offices, following a fervent appeal by the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL).
“So far, there is no decision on ban on use of ACs (air conditioners) in government offices, which will function from 8 am to 2 pm till further orders,” said an official spokesperson after the meeting.
The Chief Minister also urged the agitating Power Department employees to call off their stir, which has aggravated the crisis, with complaints of breakdowns resulting from overloading of feeders and substations not being addressed promptly.
Notably, the state’s peak demand has touched a whopping 14,500 MW. From all sources, the state has a total power availability of 12,810 MW.
Reviewing the situation at a high-level meeting, the Chief Minister constituted a three-member committee — comprising Additional Chief Secretary (Development), PSPCL chairman-cum-managing director, and Special Secretary (Finance) — to resolve the grievances of the agitating employees.
The Chief Minister assured the employees that all their genuine demands will be duly considered for appropriate action. He pointed out that many of the demands of the employees, such as increase in employee NPS share, restoration of Generation Incentive etc had already been conceded, and the sixth pay scales were also being implemented by various Boards or Corporations of the State.
He urged the employees to withdraw their agitation in the interest of the state’s agriculture and industry, as well as the domestic consumers who are facing a difficult time due to prolonged power outages amid the COVID pandemic.
Pointing out that the farmers are losing precious paddy transplantation time due to the power breakdowns, the Chief Minister made it clear that the agriculture sector needed to be prioritized for uninterrupted power supply.
He reiterated the State Government’s commitment to ensuring regular supply of power at subsidized rates to the state’s Agricultural, Domestic and Industrial consumers.
PEAK SUMMERS, DELAYED MONSOON, PADDY SEASON, FAILURE OF TSTP’S ONE UNIT LED TO CRISIS: PSPCL
As the unscheduled power cuts and outages has left the state’s power consumers — in rural, urban and agriculture sector — high and dry, the state power utility blamed the extreme power shortage on peaks summer season, delayed monsoon causing prolonged dry spells, paddy transplantation, and the failure of one unit of the Talwandi Sabo thermal power plant in Bathinda.
The State Government has come under fierce criticism from the opposition claiming the shortage has arisen despite the government paying Rs 20,000 crore fixed charges to three private thermal plants and an additional Rs 500 crore being allocated to buy additional power.
Punjab, which is touted to be power-surplus, is banking on the arrival of the monsoon as the Meteorological Department has forecast rainfall from July 3.
For the past 10 days, the PSPCL has been imposing long power cuts in the rural areas. The urban population has been reeling under power cuts for the past four days.
The PSPCL has appealed to the government officials at different departments, boards, and corporations to use electricity judiciously at work by switching off the lights, devices, and appliances when not in use and turning off high-power consuming appliances such as air conditioners for up to three days. Wherever possible, the employees are advised to avoid using multiple AC units within offices for decreasing the power load on the system besides reducing their electricity bills, said the PSPCL in its appeal to the Government.
Not only villages and agriculture feeders, even urban areas have been facing outages. While farmers in several parts of Malwa have been holding protests against the non-availability of power to irrigate fields, cities such as Patiala, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Bathinda, Mohali, and Jalandhar have been facing several unscheduled cuts.
TWO-DAY WEEKLY OFFS ON INDUSTRY
PSPCL on Thursday decided to impose two-day weekly offs for industrial consumers, barring those providing essential services, with immediate effect.
Officials said that industrial units located in Ludhiana, Mandi Gobindgarh, Khanna, Amloh, Sirhind, Jalandhar, Phagwara and Hoshiarpur have been directed to shut down their operations for 48 hours, from 2 pm today. The industries in these areas account for 90 percent of the total industrial units in Punjab.
Industrial units can now resume operations only after 2 pm on Saturday.
The two-day weekly off for industrial consumers is being imposed after nine years.