Asom reels under long power cuts

Guwahati, May 5(UNI) An acute election crisis has crippled life in Assam where people are reeling under long hours of power cuts even as the mercury continues to soar for the past few days.

The power crisis has triggered violent demonstrations by a section of youth organizations at different Assam State Electricity Board (ASEB) offices in the state. The state capital city here is facing power cuts from 30 minutes to two hours for five times a day while the situation is much worse in other parts of the state.

According to a source in the ASEB, there is shortage of about 300 MW against peak hour demand of over 700 MW, that results in heavy loadshedding. The shortfall in power supply during the off-peak hour is to the tune of 100 MW.

The basic reason behind the sudden fall in power supply is shutting down of the 190 MW Kopili and 100 MW Khadong hydel power generating projects of the North Eastern Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO), the main power supplier to the ASEB, for maintenance work.

The situation is expected to improve after Kopili project is restarted in the middle of this month.

The other major problem is lack of sufficient rain this year which has affected power generation in other hydel projects due to low water level in reservoirs of those projects. A source in the ASEB informed that the situation could improve soon if there was sufficient rain in the coming.

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