On one hand, the scorching heat is wreaking havoc in Uttar Pradesh, while on the other hand, people are troubled by the power cuts in the state. The situation is such that not only in villages and cities, there is power cut even in the capital Lucknow. Politics has also started on this issue. While the opposition is raising questions on the state government regarding power cuts, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is trying to deal with this crisis.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has called the power crisis a major disaster. The State Energy Minister retaliated by reminding Akhilesh of SP’s rule. He said that when the Samajwadi Party government was in the state in 2012-17, the average demand for electricity was 13000 MW. At present it is 30000 MW. That means about two and a half times more. He said that in the last 4 cycles, the state has become the largest electricity supplying state. Along with this, he also said that compared to 2017, electricity is being provided to almost twice as many consumers even today.
increase in consumer
The Energy Minister said that in the year 2017 there were 1.80 crore consumers whereas today there are 3.70 crore consumers. He said that in 2017, the maximum own production of thermal power in the state was 5160 MW, which increased to 5820 MW in 2022 and today it is 9120 MW. He told that the government is now taking steps towards tripling it. He said that at some places the power supply was disrupted due to natural disaster, which takes time to repair. He also said that many employees do not listen to the consumers due to which people have to face problems.
Why is electricity being cut off?
According to Electricity Corporation officials, there are many reasons for the electricity crisis in Uttar Pradesh. This includes infrastructure failure, sudden increase in demand, overloading, weak and old wires, large number of technical faults etc. The biggest reason is overloaded secondary system. Actually, electricity is being produced adequately, but there is a flaw in the distribution system. Another big reason for this is that consumers have doubled in the last 9-10 years. The load has doubled, but the infrastructure of the distribution system is still five years old. In such a situation this infrastructure is unable to bear the load.
no work at ground level
The question is why such a situation has arisen. Why are people in the state facing power cuts. on this matter
A former official of the Electricity Corporation says that many schemes were made to improve the electricity system in the state, but the truth is that no work was done on the ground level regarding these schemes. Along with this, he also said that a major reason for this is the deployment of IAS officers at the top of the system. He said that these officers do not have technical understanding. Giving an example, he said that engineers are deployed to solve the power crisis whereas this work is done by linemen. He said that an engineer can only give knowledge and will not climb a pole. This is the work of linemen, of whom there are very few.
reduction in manpower
Along with this, the former officer also talked about lack of appointments for years. He said that a new guideline has come in which the main power providing agency has been asked to reduce the existing manpower. Because of which half the contract workers have been removed. He said that there is no problem in the production of electricity but in the distribution system. He said that there is no information about blackout anywhere. There are incidents of power cuts in small pockets. He said that this problem is due to deficiency in the secondary system. He said that such situations are mostly seen in unplanned settled areas.
thousands of employees laid off
According to the information, UPPCL has removed about 30,000 contractual employees in Uttar Pradesh. Because when there was a fault in the transformer, cable or connection on the ground, the work was done by contract employees. Engineers just give instructions. Therefore, the biggest problem is considered to be the removal of employees. Due to this, repair of transformers, line faults and other works are getting affected. Due to shortage of staff, even transformers and cables could not be renewed on time. In such a situation, the transformer and cable respond as soon as the load increases.
Demand for electricity amid scorching heat
Here in UP, amid the scorching heat, the demand for electricity has reached above 30 thousand MW. According to Vidyut Pravah, a website that keeps details of electricity consumption and demand in the country, the demand for electricity between 11.15 am and 11.30 am was approximately 28,692 MW, which is almost equal to 29,025 MW at the same time the previous day. Yesterday, the government purchased about 577 MW of electricity from the electricity exchange, the price of which was ₹ 2.20 per unit. Despite this, there was a power shortage of 850 MW (3.70%) during peak hours. The total energy shortfall was 9.80 million units (2%). That means the demand for electricity in the state is very high. Even after purchasing electricity to make up for it, the shortage was still felt.
Experts say that the government is buying electricity, but there is no infrastructure to deliver it to homes. Power transmission capacity, i.e. the ability to safely supply electricity over long distances at high voltage from generation centers, is 31,500 MW. If 100% supply is given then many sub-stations may trip. For this reason, they cannot supply more than 31,000 MW of electricity even if they want to. According to a senior official of the UP government, the government cannot buy electricity from private houses even if it wants to because at present there is a huge shortage of electricity in the country. In such a situation, it is difficult to get even a single unit.
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