Maha: Industries to face 16-hour power-cut from Oct 12

Mumbai, Oct 11: Owing to power supply shortage in Maharashtra, as a result of the unrest in Andhra Pradesh over Telangana issue, the state power utility-- Mahavitaran, has decided to impose 16 hours of staggering day for industries from this Wednesday. The load shedding will be imposed only once a week from Wednesday, a spokesperson from Mahavitaran said in a statement issued here last night.

The state has been facing a shortfall of 3,500 MW power. Power plants in Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh are unable to generate electricity due to the coal shortage. Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) officials are hopeful that the ongoing Telangana crisis will be resolved soon and the normal power supply in the state will be restored.

"There are power availability problems all over India. We are trying to source power from all possible resources. In addition to regular load shedding Mahavitaran has decided to start 16 hours staggering day for industries from Wednesday till we overcome the situation," the statement said. Earlier, Mahavitaran had said that it was getting 1500 MW less from Central sector and 1000 MW less from Mahagenco power station.

"We are supposed to get 24 rakes of coal daily, but we are currently getting only 10-12 rakes for the last three weeks. Due to the coal shortage, our power generation has fallen by 500-600 MW and therefore we are unable to supply power to Mahavitaran," a Mahagenco spokesperson said.

Currently, the demand is 16500 MW, while the availability is 11000. "We have to impose load shedding for the shortfall of 3500-4000 MW. We are at present imposing 3-5 hours of load shedding in urban areas and around 12-13 hours in rural Maharashtra due to shortage of power," MSEDCL spokesperson added.

PTI