Union Minister of State for Power Piyush Goyal on Friday criticised the Akhilesh Yadav government for not doing enough to procure power for the State.
He said there was enough power available in the Exchange for the Uttar Pradesh government to buy.
Refuting Mr. Yadav’s claims that the Centre was not supplying enough power to the State, the Minister said the coal stock position of other State thermal units was comfortable and adequate. “The peak demand of Uttar Pradesh is of the order of 12,700 MW of which around 10,700 MW is met, leaving a shortfall of around of 2,000 MW at present,” Mr. Goyal said. Citing the reasons for the power shortage, Mr. Goyal said the State was not taking power equivalent to its allocation from gas-based stations of Anta, Aurayia and Dadri. He said if a requisition was made by the State Distribution Utilities, about 300 MW could be made available immediately.
The internal generation of U.P. is approximately 10,100 MW of which only 4,500-5,500 MW is currently available which can be improved by the State to meet its shortage, the Minister said.
He said power could also be requisitioned from other surplus northern States for which there was no transmission constraint.
“Further, 377 MW from the NTPC’s Jhajjar plant is also available which can be requisitioned by the State. During the election, U.P. did procure 277 MW from the Jhajjar plant from May 3-15. In addition to these sources, the State can procure adequate power from the power exchanges to meet its shortage,” he said.
