UP, Government lock horns over power supply

Lucknow, May 8: People in Uttar Pradesh continue to swelter under the scorching heat, which touched 47 degree Celcius at various places, even as the state government and the Centre engage in blame game over unprecendented power shortage.

Residents at several places took to the streets protesting against the power supply. Women blocked rail traffic in Kanpur yesterday and reports of demonstrations and dharna from other areas have also been received.

UP Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) has blamed the Centre for the crisis and claimed that the supply to the state has been decreased from last year's quota.

UPPCL, which is already facing penal action from Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) for ''grid indisicipline'', is likely to move the court against the notice.

CERC had imposed a fine of Rs 15 lakh on UPPCL and Rs 1.5 lakh on its chairman for overdrawing power from Northern Grid, which has officially been described as ''very unstable'' due to excessive load.

The action had come on a petition of Northern Region Load Despatch Centre (NRLDC), the regulatory body to monitor load position and withdrawal status from the grid.

''The Centre has painted a wrong picture about UP that it has been violating the grid discpline whereas other states like Rajasthan, Delhi, Haryana and Punjab were responsible for the problem,'' said UPPCL Chairman Ashok Khurana here.

Mr Khurana said the state was receiving about 11 million units less this year from the central pool which has led to severe shortage of power in the state resulting in law and order problem and wide-spread protests from the people.

Criticising the Centre for not giving proper share to the power-deficient states from its unallocated share of 15 per cent, he said Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav had also written to the Centre on the basis of which they were providing its share to the states.

''It was unfortunate that UP was not considered for the unalloted share of the Centre, which is ignoring the huge population and shortage of power in the state'', he said.

It is well known that during the last over a month, the Northern Grid, responsible for feeding nine states--UP, Rajasthan, Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Uttaranchal and Jammu and Kashmir, Uttaranchal and Himachal Pradesh--was very vulnerable with its frequency hovering around 48 Hz, the threshold frequency below which it could collapse anytime.

UPPCL, which is normally authorised to import 2,300 MW power from the Central Sector--owing to excessive demand in summers, was withdrawing extra power upto 1000 MW, although on higher rates, which was strongly opposed to by NRLDC. In the follow up of its warnings, the NRLDC filed a petition before the CERC alleging ''grid indiscipline'' by the UPPCL.

Meanwhile, the power situation in UP continued to be alarming with massive rostering having become the order of the day and even the major cities were not getting power for 12 hours a day.

The power demand here has already touched a record level of 7500 MW during peak hours and the gap between demand and supply widening with each passing day. Power cuts which have been imposed are in the range of 2500 MW with demand being in the excess of 7000 MW and likley to increase as mercury soars further.

The generation, mainly thermal, in UP was still pegged at a mere 1,900 MW and even after imports, the shortfall of more than 2,500 MW was compensated by emergency rostering all over the state.

The power supply to industries is stopped in the night and most rural areas are in ''dark''.

Meanwhile, the UP government has ordered closure of all the markets by 2000 hrs in the night to save power.

UNI