The power crisis in the State further worsened on Friday as 9 out of its 11 hydro power stations failing to generate any electricity. The incessant rains in the state have increased the silt in the rivers which is hampering the power generation of these hydro electric plants.
The 90 MW Maneri Bhali Phase I, 240 MW Chibro, 198 MW Kalagarh, 144 MW Chila, 120 MW Khodari, 34 MW Dhakrani, 51 MW Dhalipur , 30 MW Kulhal and 20 MW Pathri hydro power stations have stopped generating power due to the silt factor.On Friday only two hydro power stations the 304 MW Maneri Bhali Phase II and 42 MW Khatima generated power in the state. The decrease in production caused much discomfort for the people of the state as power outages affected the normal life.
The Spokesperson of Uttarakhand Power Corporation limited (UPCl), Madhusudan said that due to the reduced production the corporation undertook a power cut of 5 hours in the rural areas of Haridwar district similarly a cut of 4 hours was undertaken in the rural areas of Udham Singh Nagar district.The UPCl undertook an outage of 3 hours in the towns of Garhwal division and 2 hours in the cities of Kotdwar, Jawalapur, Roorkee and Doiwala.
The industries of the state bear the brunt of the power cuts as the SIDCUl of Haridwar and Non continuous industry of Jawalapur, Kotdwar and Rishikesh faced power outage of 5 hours while power cut of 1 hour was undertaken in the SIDCUl of Udham Singh Nagar.It is pertinent to mention here that the UPCl has entered into a contract with the neighbouring state of Himachal Pradesh to purchase power to meet its requirements.
The state would receive power from Himachal Pradesh till September 30. To meet the requirements the UPCl would purchase 2.5 MU electricity on Saturday from Himachal Pradesh and would draw 1.5 MU from the central pool under Indian Energy Exchange programe.