Sanjeev Nandan Sahai, Secretary of the Union Ministry of Power, has clarified during a video-conference with top officials of the Energy Departments of States that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call was for switching off domestic lights only for nine minutes starting at 9 p.m. on April 5 and the other electrical appliances could be running as usual.
Street-lights would be kept on in urban and rural areas. Lighting and other appliances in hospitals, municipal services, police offices and stations, essential services and even in commercial establishments need not be switched off.
Mr. Sahai said all protocols to tackle the likely impact of the switching off of the domestic lights on grid safety were in place and that there was sufficient flexible generation (hydel, gas, pumped storage etc.) to deal with any contingency.
Caution for flats
He said under no circumstances should any feeders at apartments and housing societies be switched off with over-enthusiasm and the State Load Dispatch Centres should take necessary steps to ensure smooth functioning of the installations.
In a meeting later, Andhra Pradesh Energy Secretary and AP-Transco CMD N. Srikant and Joint Managing Director K.V.N. Chakradhar Babu took stock of the preparations for the Sunday’s event.
AP-Transco Director (Grid and Transmission) Praveen Kumar and DISCOMs CMDs H. Haranatha Rao (SPDCL), J. Padma Janardhan Reddy (CPDCL) and Nagalakshmi Selvarajan (EPDCL) were present.
