The power crisis that has hit the 13 districts in the Seemandhra region is likely to be intensified with the employees’ talks with Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy failing.
APGENCO, AP Transco, and Discoms employees joined the strike called by the APNGOs protesting against the Union Cabinet’s decision to bifurcate the State.
The employees, grouped under the Vidyut JAC, were on strike since Thursday.
Generation at Dr. Narla Tatarao Thermal Power Station (NTTPS), Rayalaseema Thermal Power Station (RTPS), Sileru complex, and at Srisailam right canal remained zero for the second consecutive day on Tuesday.
While power was cut between 8 a.m. and 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. in Krishna district, in other districts such as Guntur, Prakasam, Nellore, Chittoor, and Kadapa, it was over 12 hours at a stretch.
Normal life took a beating as people faced water problem as the pumping stations did not function at many places due to lack of power.
The worst sufferers were people residing in apartment complexes.
“On the one hand lifts are not functioning due to lack of power and on the other there is no water. Senior citizens are either confined to the four walls or taking the risk of climbing up the steps,” said Ch. Narendra, a resident of JD Nagar in Vijayawada.
According to Divisional Engineer of NTTPS and JAC chairman P. Satyanarayana, even if the strike is called off, it would take 24 to 48 hours to restart all the six 210MW units and the 500 mw unit and restore the installed capacity of 1760MW.
“Similar is the case with the RTPS,” he said.
While no trains were cancelled on Tuesday, a few were running late by one hour.
The traction lines under the South Central Railway largely remained unaffected, except for the Tenali – Bapatla line, which was disrupted for a couple of hours due to lack of supply, said Chief Engineer of AP southern Power Distribution Corporation Limited K. Raja Bapaiah.
He also added that there was no imminent threat to the southern grid, as the show was being managed by the load despatch department located at Vidyut Soudha in Hyderabad.
But, he was fast to add that if power generation at the plants in the Seemandhra region were not taken up, long hours of power-cuts would continue, as the crisis had to be managed through load transfer mechanism.
