Uttarakhand is buying power from the open market to bridge the widening demand-supply gap that has severely affected normal life in the hill state, in the midst of a scorching summer.
The move came after Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna, who said the government will buy power from outside to ensure electricity supply, faced criticism from the opposition over the issue, with BJP leader Ajay Bhatt demanding immediate steps in this regard.
Acute shortage of electricity has adversely impacted the industrial sector in the state, with power cuts ranging from 10 to 15 hours prompting industrialists to raise the issue.
“We have lodged a strong protest before the government over the worsening power scenario in Uttarakhand” said President of Industries Association of Uttarakhand (IAU) Pankaj Gupta. He also asked the government to give preference to hydro-power for a long-term solution to the problem.
Yogesh Jindal, head of the KVS Steel Limited at Kashipur in Kumaon region, also said the functioning of the unit was badly affected due to power cuts everyday.
Meanwhile, situation for common people is no different who are facing the double whammy of acute heat waves, compounded by 6 to 8 hours of daily power cut.
After an addition of 20 million units in the past few days, the power generation by state-run Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited plummeted again to 12 million units, creating a shortfall of 4 to 6 million units per day.
The power demand, on the other hand, rose to 33 to 34 million units per day, which is 15 per cent higher than the demand for the same period last year.
