The Hindu : New Delhi News : Yes, there is power crisis, admits Sheila

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jul 12, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

Yes, there is power crisis, admits Sheila

Staff Reporter

Problem with coordination between people and private power distribution companies

NEW DELHI: Describing the current power crisis in the Capital as something serious and urging the consumers to bear with the situation created by unforeseen circumstances, the Delhi Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit, on Monday acknowledged a shortfall of around 800 MW despite overdraw of power to the tune of 500 MW from the Northern Grid.

Accepting that there has been a problem with coordination between people and private distribution companies, Ms. Dikshit told reporters after a Cabinet review of the power situation that things had taken a turn for the worse following heavy rains and floods in Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal and some other areas where major power producing projects were located. Ms. Dikshit informed that because of the shut down of the 1500 MW Nathpa Jhakri power project and some other projects in Uttaranchal, the power situation in Delhi had aggravated.

However, the Chief Minister asserted that power cuts were being undertaken only in theft prone areas of the Capital and "genuine consumers'' were not being put to any hardship. Similarly, she said that the Delhi Government had also tied up with the Gujarat Government for supply of power but the floods created by heavy rains had made things difficult and the supply has not come through.

The Power Minister, Haroon Yusuf, said every effort was being made to ensure that people were not put to inconvenience. Mr. Yusuf informed that negotiations were being carried out with other States for power supply and was hopeful that something positive will emerge out of it. He informed that according to a review carried out by the Union Power Ministry, it will take some time before the hydro power projects get started in the hill States. The Power Minister informed that the power utilities had been successful in meeting the peak load demand of 3626 MW during June.

Cabinet review

Earlier, the Cabinet also carried out a review of the Power Department where the performance of the discoms came under fire.

It is learnt that during the review, Mr. Yusuf said two 400 KV sub-stations were planned to be set up at Maharani Bagh in South Delhi and Mundka in Outer Delhi. Apart from this, the Government proposed to commission the 2X100 MVA 220 KV transformers at Papankalan II by September 2005. Around 70 per cent of the work had been completed on the project. Similarly, he informed that commissioning of the 2X100 MVA transformer at Geeta Colony in East Delhi was in an advanced stage and things would be streamlined by the end of this month. Mr. Yusuf said the ultimate dream of the Delhi Government was to ensure 24x7 power supply by 2010.

No payment default

He said there had been no default in the payment for purchase of power by the Delhi Government after privatisation and the percentage of total payment made for power purchase has been nearly 100 per cent.

He said transmission losses of Delhi Transco Limited have been reduced from 3.84 per cent during 2002-03 to 1.69 in 2003-04 and further reduced to 1.30 per cent during 2004-05.

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