The Hindu : National : Protests in U.P. over power cuts

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Sunday, May 07, 2006

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National

Protests in U.P. over power cuts

Lucknow: Protests against load-shedding of power have surfaced in several parts of Uttar Pradesh, said Power Corporation sources on Saturday.

With the mercury touching 46 degree Celsius pushing up the demand for power, large-scale load-shedding is being resorted to by the authorities.

Shortfall of power

The power generation in the State sector units hovered around 2,500 MW and even after an import of 2,400 MW from the Central units, the shortfall remained at around 2,000 MW forcing the authorities to resort to large-scale load-shedding to maintain the grid frequenc.

Situation bad in villages

Unscheduled load-shedding was resorted to even in places like Varanasi, Kanpur, Ghaziabad and Noida, the sources said. The situation in the villages, tehsil headquarters and smaller towns was worse as these areas were hardly getting electricity for a couple of hours.

In Kanpur, hundreds of Congress workers led by Union Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal held a demonstration before the Commissioner's residence on Friday.

Power employees assaulted

The situation was alarming in the western region of the State with reports of assault of power employees at many places, the sources said.

Irate people roughed up a senior official at a power sub-station in Daurala in Meerut while Bhartiya Kisan Union activists held captive a Circle Officer, a Station House Officer and a Sub-Divisional Officer in Muzaffanagar besides blocking the highway to protest prolonged load-shedding. — PTI

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