In spite of the Himalayan State registering more power generation from its domestic sources, leading to improvement in gross availability of electricity in the State, unscheduled and long hours of load shedding continue to hit normal life of citizens here who have already been facing a tough time due to adverse weather conditions.
The matter of fact here is that the gap between the demand for power and its availability has been remarkably narrowed down of late with the hill State registering more power generation from its domestic power stations following increasing water level of rivers engaged in running the domestic hydropower generation systems, yet people had to face power cuts for over five hours on Tuesday.
The rostering of electricity began in urban areas like Haldwani at around 10 am and the power supply was restored only after 3 on Tuesday afternoon. But the fact is that tripping in the power supply continued even after its restoration this afternoon. More so, as the citizens here alleged, the long hours of power cuts have become a routine affairs even in the urban areas.
The rural areas of the state are the worst affected due to rostering of electricity with power supply remaining disrupted for over seven hours in these areas , as the figures provided by the Uttarakhand Power Corporation limited (UPCl) suggest.
It is worth mention here that whereas total availability of power in the state is around 33 million unit (mu) i.e. 17.08 from the indigenous sources and 16.34 mu from the central pool, the demand for the same is hovering around 33.84 mu as the figures provide by the UPCl reflect.
Improved power generation from the domestic hydro power sources, is the main factor leading to the gross availability of power in the state upto 33 mu. The fact is that whereas power generation from the indigenous sources which was only around 10 mu as on July 1, has gone upto around 17 mu as of now. But load shedding and that too for long hours continues to come as a cause of concern for the citizens.