NEW DELHI: With a lower demand due to closure of offices, schools and other institutions in the mornings and greater requirement for power in the evenings, Delhi over the past two days has witnessed a trend of greater load-shedding in the evening and night and almost no cuts during the morning hours.

While on Independence Day most colonies in the Capital received normal power supply during daytime, in the evening the spectre of long and unscheduled power cuts that had been bothering them for over a fortnight returned to haunt them.

In several colonies such as Mayur Vihar Phase I extension, there were about four hours of power cuts late on Tuesday evening.

A resident of East End Apartments said the power cuts spoilt the Independence Day celebrations as they lasted from 5 p.m. to around 9-30 p.m.

On Wednesday morning the power situation improved again as the demand dropped due to closure of most offices and institutions on account of Krishna Janmashtami.

However, with the weather becoming increasingly warm, the demand picked up and reached a high of 3,122 MW as against the peak demand of 3,035 MW on Tuesday.

In Rohini Sector 13, too, people complained of power cuts for around two hours on Wednesday. A resident said not a single day had passed in the past month when there had not been at least three hours of cuts during the day.

On the supply front, there was a shortage in supply of around 220 MW between midnight and 12 noon on Wednesday and this increased to around 400 MW between noon and 7 p.m., about 600 MW between 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. and was expected to cross 600 MW past 11 p.m.

Adequate

For Delhi -- which has been suffering from lack of adequate supply of power due to the closure of gas-fired plants following disruption of gas from flood-ravaged Gujarat -- there was another setback as the date for commissioning of a 210-MW unit of the Badarpur Thermal Power Station has now been extended to August 22. Earlier the unit was expected to become operational from Thursday.

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