Will Akhilesh Yadav swing in action now as he gets feel of power crisis himself

Lucknow, Oct 21: Probably after this incident Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav will definitely find the reason why power crisis is making it tough for the commoner of the State. Yadav along with his cabinet got a first hand experience of the grim power scenario in the state with the annexe, where the CM's office is located, plunging into darkness following a sudden power cut here.

As the CM was about to address media persons at annexe which houses the offices of the chief minster, chief secretary among others, an unscheduled power cut put them to great inconvenience.

With only some bulbs blinking in the backdrop, the chief minister quipped, "it is Diwali effect." The emergency backup of the annexe also went haywire and the electricity supply could only be restored after about 10 minutes. The state government is under attack from the opposition parties on the issue of erratic power supply.

Why this grim situation?

As per UP Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL), the state is facing a deficit of around 1500 MW power from the thermal plants run by Centre, in which UP enjoys a certain quota.

The 300 Megawatt (MW) Rosa and 210 MW Parichha have already been shut due to coal shortage while others are on the verge of running out of fuel.

The state is getting around 1500 MW power from plants run by the Central government but the coal shortage has resulted in paucity of around 600 MW power.

Besides, nearly half of the thermal power plants in the state have become old and are working under ailing conditions.

Most of these public sector power units have outlived their life of 25 years. The Harduaganj and Obra units are nearly 50 years old and are functioning only up to 65 per cent of their total capacity.

OneIndia News

(with inputs from PTI)