Power crises in Punjab-CM calls powercom officials
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in
After the protest by farmers against the six-hour supply against the required eight- hour supply, the chief minister of Punjab Capt Amarinder Singh has called a meeting of power officials at 2 PM today, to review the position of power supply for agriculture, in the state.
Paddy transplantation in Punjab starts from June 10. Almost a fortnight after the paddy season started, farmers continue to face acute shortage of power to run their tubewells and arrange enough water for their fields. The state government’s tall claim of having surplus power have fallen flat.
In Punjab, the peak load already touches 13000 MW. Unit V of the GGSSTP Ropar, unit 1 of the Ranjit Sagar Dam and unit 3 of the Talwandi Sabo Power Limited (TSPL) is not in operational mode.
Till today, from all its own resources, PSPCL is generating around 6000 MW units, on daily basis. Rest, demand is met from other sources- central sector projects, power exchange, etc.
The three private generators -Nabha Power Limited, Rajpura (1400 MW), Talwandi Sabo Power Limited, Mansa (1980 MW) and GVK ,Goindwal (540 MW) have 3,920 MW capacity. At Talwandi Sabo, one unit of 660 MW capacity was shut down and not in operational mode.
On June 22, PSPCL had purchased 879 MW from power exchange at the rate of Rs 3.85 per unit and is meeting the highest rising power demand. “PSPCL has made arrangements to meet the demand up to 13,700 MW. The purchase of power from exchange is mainly due to failure of 660 MW unit of Talwandi Sabo thermal plant at Mansa,” said the CMD of PSPCL, A Venu Prasad, after purchasing the 879 MW.
On the other hand, PSPCL engineers were also on protest mode. The association claim that they are working round the clock for emergency services.
Irregular power supply to fields and delayed monsoon means, the farmer will suffer losses as paddy fields are dry despite arranging labour, which is now without work.
June 25,2021
