Ruchika M Khanna
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, July 7

As Punjab's power crisis deepened further today, restrictions were again imposed on the industry, asking it to draw bare minimal of the sanctioned load.

As people across the state took to the streets to protest against the long and unscheduled power cuts, the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL), in a late night development, imposed restrictions on the use of power by industrial units till July 11. The industry has been asked to use only restricted load, ranging from 2.5-10 per cent of their contracted load.

Finding alternative solutions: PSPCL

PSPCL Chairman A Venu Prasad said the power situation worsened because of a snag in the Talwandi Sabo plant. “We are trying to make alternative arrangements to meet the growing demand. As regards the shortage of equipment and transformers, it could be a local problem. There is enough equipment for replacing damaged transformers,” he said.

Violators have been cautioned that defying the order would invite penalty of Rs 500 per KVA/day on the maximum load used on the day, up from Rs 100-Rs 200 per KVA. The industry has been granted exemption from paying fixed charges for these days. “This is the worst situation we are facing. Even in the days when Punjab was not power surplus, never was the industry forced to shut for five days,” said Badish Jindal, an industrialist from Ludhiana.

Numerous incidents were reported from different parts of the state, where angry residents laid siege to the power sub-stations and offices of subdivisional officers of the Power Department. The residents complained of long cuts imposed on them, as well as the inability of the state government to replace transformers or converters that were damaged because of overloading as the equipment was in short supply.

The state’s power generation capacity was badly affected today as the only functional unit in the Talwandi Sabo Thermal Power Plant (TSPL) developed a snag and was forced to reduce its generation by 315 MW. Pushed to the edge, Punjab bought more power on the power exchange (1,100 MW) to meet the demand, even as the gap in demand and supply remained at an astounding 2,000 MW today, with the demand shooting up to 15,000 MW.