Power cuts to make a come back in Hyderabad
Hyderabad, December 20: The city is once again expected to face four hours of power cuts, while towns and rural areas would be without power for up to eight hours in the next couple of months because of the poor rainfall recorded in all the Telangana districts.
In fact, the deficit rainfall recorded in the State has set off alarm bells for the energy department officials as they expect a sizeable power deficit once the rabi season is in full swing.
They are leaving no stone unturned to bridge the expected gap between demand and supply. The state experienced a shortfall in power production during the kharif season, with all areas experiencing an extended duration of power cuts.
Though farmers traditionally have depended on rain water for rabi crops, the deficit rainfall means that the more than 19 lakh pump sets in the state would once again be revved up to draw the ground water for irrigation.
Statistics from the Revenue Department show that the state experienced less than half the normal amount of rainfall and districts like Karimnagar, Adilabad, Nizamabad and Warangal are the worst affected.
The dire situation has become apparent from the fact that Khammam with ' 22 per cent deficit rainfall. An official from the Department of Agriculture said that farmers would have to turn towards the pump sets for their irrigation needs as the poor rainfall has seen reservoirs and lakes receive poor inflows.
'The Chief Minister requested the farmers to sow arid crops as they would require lesser water, but the attempt has only been half-hearted and the message has not reached all the farmers,' said the official.
While the demand for electricity at present is about 135 million units (MU) per day with the supply also being thereabouts, energy department officials expect that the peak demand during rabi season would be about 170 MU.
Telangana Electricity Employees JAC coordinator K Raghu said that once the rabi season is in full flow, the state could be experiencing a power deficit of more than 35 MU per day, resulting in reinstating of power cuts. 'Load shedding operations would be resumed to tide over the deficit,' he said.
News Posted: 20 December, 2014
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