hile the public sentiment favours the AAP government, there is still a lot that needs to be focused on, say power experts. It took one massive storm in the peak summers of May in 2014 to expose the poorly maintained and inadequate transmission network of Delhi.
The Capital was left lurching in the dark then with daily power outages of four to six hour for more than a week. The situation was so grim that the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) had clearly stated then that the outages were not because of lack of power supply but due to poor maintenance of transmission lines. “If the commissioning of 220 KV Wazirpur grid with incoming power from the 400 KV Mundka substation had been completed on time. There wouldn’t have been such a blackout in the city,” said an official of a power utility.
The Delhi government needs to pick up from this experience and upgrade the city’s transmission network which is controlled by the state-run Delhi Transco Limited.
There are a number of projects which have faced multiple delays and have been ongoing ever since the previous government. “We have projects worth Rs. 1,200 crore that are under various stages at present. The latest work which was completed is that of laying of transmission lines from Mundka to Peeragarhi. Sometimes delays happen due to land issues as well,” said Rishi Raj Bhati, spokeperson of DTL.
Besides, Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal had also said that four proposed power sub-stations which can end electricity crisis in the Capital have failed to see the light of day as land has not been allocated to even one of them by the Delhi Government. Once these four substations at Rajghat, Tughlakabad, Dwarka and Karampura are ready, the Centre could bring in 7,400 MW of power to Delhi, which is substantially higher than the estimated demand even in the next few years.
Responding to this, Power Minister Satyendar Jain said, “The Centre was not willing to give the rates that we had offered. The Urban Development Ministry is now fixing a discounted rate for the plots. Once the decision comes, we shall give it immediately.”
Going by the current situation, the Delhi government may just be lucky that a similar storm has not yet struck the Capital again.
If four proposed sub-stations are built, the Centre can bring 7,400 MW to the city
