With the sole 500 MW unit operating at Dr. Narla Tatarao Thermal Power Station (NTTPS), Ibrahimpatnam, tripping at about 11 p.m. on Sunday, the power situation has turned precarious and continues to be gloomy for the third day in the Seemandhra region.
Power shutdown, which was limited to seven southern districts on Sunday, spread to entire Seemandhra 13 districts. With the generation at both the major thermal power plants of APGENCO- NTTPS and RTPS (Rayalaseema Thermal Power Station) dropping to zero, almost 70 per cent of 13 districts plunged into darkness for hours together. Guntur district experienced cut for almost 12 hours at a stretch and in Krishna district it was over 8 hours.
Grim situation
The situation looks grim as the employees of APGENCO, DISCOM and AP Transco in the Seemandhra region are hell-bent on carrying forward the strike protesting the Cabinet’s nod on bifurcation of the State. The hydel generation of 770 MW at Srisailam Right Canal and 700 MW at Upper and Lower Sileru has also come to a grounding halt, thus reducing the generation by about 4,300 MW. The southern grid has not collapsed, but the short supply has put immense pressure on the grid and the show was being managed from the control room at Vidyut Soudha in Hyderabad.
“We have a common pool from where the power is being distributed, effectively using the load transfer management and by drawing power from the APGENCO’s Kothagudem Plant at Warangal, NTPC Simhadri Plant at Visakhapatnam and Srisailam Left Canal and Nagarjuna Sagar left canal. But how long will they be able run the show is to be seen,” said APSPDCL Chief Engineer K. Raja Bapaiah.
Shortage of coal
The 500 MW unit at NTTPS tripped on Sunday due to shortage of coal and lack of ash removal. “There was sufficient coal in the stockyard to run the unit for one more day, but there was no manpower available to feed the coal and hence it tripped,” said the NTTPS Divisional Engineer and JAC Chairman P. Satyanarayana.
The load factor has also affected the railway traction lines, and many trains were cancelled or diverted. Mr. Satyanarayana informed that restarting the NTTPS or RTPS would take at least 24 hours, once the strike was called off.
Medical services hit
Medical services at the Government General Hospital, Guntur continue to be affected for the second day on Monday and essential medical services continued to be crippled due to the power blackout which entered day two. The inpatients continue to suffer from the power shut down. The dingy rooms with no lighting and air piled on misery for the members of their families.
The pediatric ward at GGH reverberated with shrill cries as children could not cope up with the heat. Many parents could be seen swinging papers to make their children keep quiet.
The GGH has ensured a continuous power supply to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and Pediatrics Intensive Care Unit, where emergency treatment is carried out. The outpatient services were among the worst affected as patients streaming from distant places were forced to go back after Government Doctors and nursing staff at the GGH went on a flash strike on Monday morning in response to a call given by the A.P Government Doctors Association, Central CommitteeAt a meeting held on the premises of GGH on Monday morning, president of Guntur committee, A. Kiran Kumar said that doctors would abstain from duties from Monday. The GGH, a 1,177 bedded referral hospital, is visited by patients from neighbouring districts of Prakasam, Krishna and West Godavari.
