NEW DELHI: The power situation in the Capital continued to remain badly hit on Thursday due to a massive shortfall in production in the generating units supplying electricity to the Northern Grid. As a result, residents across the city were forced to face long hours of unscheduled power cuts almost the entire day as the Delhi Transco Limited failed to arrange enough electricity to meet the growing demand due to sultry weather.

The problem in the Grid that began almost a week ago persisted as the hydroelectric plants in Himachal Pradesh have been hit by floods in the rivers and technical problems in the various thermal power units in Uttar Pradesh has seriously affected the generation capacity. This has led to a shortfall of around 5,000 MW during the past five days and still there are no signs of the situation improving.

Moreover, at least one unit each of the Delhi Government's Indraprastha and Rajghat plants are lying non-functional for the past few weeks, depriving the Capital of a crucial 125 MW power.

According to a Transco spokesperson, with each day, the demand for power was increasing in Delhi and as there was no improvement in the generation and supply to the Grid, the power situation was getting more critical.

"For the past three days we are facing a shortfall of over 500 MW, while load-shedding has been between 300-400 MW. We also cannot overdraw from the Grid.So, we have no choice but to wait and watch for the generation to increase and the day temperatures to go down in order to reduce demand," the spokesperson added.

Though on Thursday the demand reduced marginally compared to Wednesday, still the load-shedding was higher -- 328 MW on Wednesday and 333 MW on Thursday. Transco managed to get additional power from other sources, but still the crisis continues.Meanwhile, Transco has informed that due to maintenance work, power supply will remain affected mainly in North and West Delhi areas on Friday. Due to maintenance in Bawana-Rohini and Najagarh-Bawana circuits, power supply will remain hit from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Bawana, Daryapur, Ranikheda, Najafgarh, Paschim Vihar, Mukerjee Nagar, Chaukhandi and adjoining areas.

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