Power cut continued for the fourth consecutive day in the 13 Seemandhra districts on Wednesday. From Sunday the employees of APGENCO, AP Transco and the two discoms in the region have struck work protesting against the Union Cabinet’s approval for creating Telangana.
And it now appears to be heading towards a major crisis, as the third round of talks with the Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, within a span of two days, has failed.
Vidyut JAC convenor of Krishna district Satyanandan said that it was decided to extend the strike by 24 hours from 6 a.m on Thursday. For the six districts under the Southern Power Distribution Corporation Limited (SPDCL) including Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam, Chittoor, Nellore and Kadapa, Wednesday was the worst, as there was no power from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. at a stretch.
Normal life was paralysed with almost all sectors, including the emergency sector, not functioning.
SPDCL Chief Engineer K. Raja Bapaiah said the corporation was supplied only 103 MW, the lowest-ever in the history of SPDCL, compared to its usual requirement of 2,700 MW. Power was restored between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. loading 2,300 MW by 8 p.m. in the SPDCL’s six districts.
On the other hand EPDCL was supplied lowest of 450 MW against its normal requirement of 1,700 MW. By evening about 1,500 MW was supplied. “Practically we were able to supply only to the cement companies located in Krishna district,” he said.
He said power to railway traction had been resumed and the only affected line was the Tenali- Bapatla. Meanwhile, as far as, the generation of power in the Seemandhra region was concerned, it remained at zero level for the third day in succession. “Almost about 5,000 MW of generation was down in the Seemandhra region.
“At all the plants, be it two thermal plants of NTTPS, RTPS, hydel plants or private gas-based plants, the generation was zero,” said NTTPS JAC Chairman P. Satyanarayana. He said the core team members of Vidyut JAC would be meeting the members of APNGOs on Thursday to decide the future course of action.
