Power crisis haunts Telangana
HYDERABAD: Telangana State is reeling under unprecedented power shortage, leading to severe distress among farmers. The State registered a record demand of 161 million units but could supply only 141 MU, leaving a gap of 20 MU.
The officials admitted that it was an unprecedented scarcity situation. An official of the energy department said that four years ago the power demand in the combined Andhra Pradesh around the same time in August was 140 million units.
Though the officials have been scouted for 13 mu of power from other States, they could manage to procure only 6 MUs. 'We fetched power at the rate of Rs 6.30 per unit and even at this rate we failed to get enough power to meet the full demand,' the officials said.
As a consequence of the severe scarcity, the State government is mulling over declaring power holidays to the industrial sector. This might ease the situation a little bit but would not help in overcoming the crisis as all the southern States are vying to purchase power from all available sources.
The power supply position has worsened in the past few weeks as the agriculture demand reached unprecedented high and at the same time, the demand from industrial sector is also high.
The domestic power demand has also increased due to prevailing heat conditions following lack of rains. The demand is particularly high in Hyderabad. The unrestricted demand in the city has reached to 4,700 MW which translates into 112 MUs which is very high, compared to average demand in the past.
'We are buying power as per the bilateral agreements. Yet, we are unable to meet the demand,' a top official said. The demand for power in the southern States is also high in this season unlike in the past due to the failure of the monsoon, he said.
Energy department officials said that they did not see such a demand for power in the agriculture sector during July-August period in the past. Due to failure of the monsoon, farmers are depending heavily on bore wells for irrigation purpose.
Though hydel power stations have begun production last month, the power scarcity has become insurmountable. Meanwhile, the government is facing the wrath of the farmers who have hit the streets demanding uninterrupted power supply.
News Posted: 27 August, 2014
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