(1888PressRelease)
June 21, 2007 - As the hot Indian summer progresses, the nation and the people in the northern plains and a large part of the Southern Peninsula writhe in the heat, looking for respite and electricity to carry on with the business of nation building.
That just about happens and many times it may not as was noticed in Uttar Pradesh only days after Bahujan Samaj party government assumed political power in there. the situation in Assam was no better.
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati after assuming office hinted at increasing power tariff asked state government offices to switch on CFLs bridging the demand-supply gap.
The industrial units in Uttar Pradesh are not sure if the situation will change very soon after the Mulayam Singh government was booted out.
The Bahujan Samaj party did not even have a manifesto in the election. But entrepreneur in the state admit that the situation cannot get worse than when Mulayam Singh ruled, because during his rule, there was not even recognition of the fact industry was suffering hugely because of crippling power shortage.
Noting that the state was passing through a serious power crisis, Mayawati said the demand for power had risen to 8500 mw while supply was confined to 6500 mw. She said that different power sector utilities in the state had incurred a loss of Rs 5500 crores till last year, creating a financial crisis.
Industry sources in up say it had an installed capacity of just 4000 mw while gap between the demand and supply is about 1800 mw. The UP government had stated some months ago that 7000 mw generation capacity in the state are in various stages of completion. What irks industry in UP is that power cuts in UP is the attitude of the state government.
In Assam, a drought like situation leading to poor hydropower generation and a weak distribution network have led to the state facing the worst ever power crises, prompting the state government to approach neighbouring states as well as the Himalaya kingdom of Bhutan for power supply.
Already facing a shortage crisis, it had been compounded with a prolonged dry spell. Chief minister Tarun Gogoi in a SOS to the centre recently requested for immediate allocation of 400 mw from Oil and Natural Gas Commission's Tripura based project, and also some power from the Tala and Kiruchu hydro electric projects of Bhutan and Assam.
Charging the public sector ONGC and Oil India Limited for failing to supply committed gas for power generation in Assam and Gogoi said as a result of that generation in the Namrup thermal power station (TPS) and Lakwa TPS as well as Kathalguri TPS of North East Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO) have suffered badly.
Media report from Maharashtra gives the same kind of picture that shows progress of small and medium industry in severely hampered by power shortage.
In this state, where industry is reeling under the savage power cuts, which amounts to two days of forced shut down of production, the peak shortfall last estimated, was a whopping 5,085mw. The total demand in power in the state with the exclusion of Mumbai, is about 15,000mw, through the total generation is only about 9,840mw.
The small scale industry association is up in arms as they find that government twiddling its thumbs when it comes to adding capacity or set up any new power project. The last major project in the state was that of Enron, which till late was mired in controversy.
Maharashtra's Dabhol project which has been in disputes ever since its concept was floated and the delays have cost the state dearly. In the middle of May this year, the state chief minister was summoned by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Delhi for an urgent discussion on the power situation in the state and ways to mitigate it.
The Centre agreed to bail out the state partly by promising to give additional 2,600mw power during the next one year, according to chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh. Essentially, the plan for the state is to provide coal linkages for Koradi and Chandrapur power plants which together have a capacity of 2,400mw and for the expansion project of Parali, Paras and Bhusawal station in the state.
In a country where about 20 percent production losses can be attributed to power shortage, surely there is much too done and regained, to upgrade economic and industrial abilities
