Punjab faces 200 lakh units of power deficit, power cuts imposed

Punjab is facing a shortage of more than 200 lakh units of power daily, a senior official said here on Tuesday.

The state is consuming more than 1,900 lakh units of power as against the demand of 2,100 lakh units daily, he said.

Chairman cum managing director of Punjab State Power Corporation, K D Chaudhary, said as a result of monsoon failure only 8 hours power supply was being given to 80 per cent grids.

Three hours power cuts were being imposed daily at district headquarters in state, he said.

The present circumstances had forced the Powercom to impose a weekly two-day power cut for the industrial sector.

He said the Punjab government had provided subsidy of Rs 4,200 crore to the Powercom up to March 31, 2012 to compensate it for free power supply to farm sector and BPL families.

He added the water level in Bhakra dam reservoir had gone down to 40 feet as compared to last year due to failure of monsoon.

Moreover, there was no pre-monsoon showers this time, he added.

He justified providing domestic power connections to the consumers in the unauthorised residential colonies at double the normal rates.

He said after providing electric connections to such areas, the power theft had gone down considerably.

Blacklisting

Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday asked officials to black-list companies supplying poor quality power transformers and metres.

“Strict action should be initiated against officers involved in the verification of such companies,” Yadav said addressing a meeting to review the power scenario in the state.

CM also directed officers to install metres on feeders through which consumers can get information about the time of power supply.

The process to black-list 14 companies is underway and two officers involved in their verification have already been suspended, said chairman of UP power corporation, Avnish Awasthi.