LUCKNOW: The festive mood in Uttar Pradesh is marred by a severe power crisis in the state owing to a breakdown in the thermal units at Anpara and Obra, compelling authorties to take up massive rostering.

The ongoing crisis is further compounded by the increased power demand due to the festivals of Durga Puja and Dussehra combined with the month of Ramzan.

With two 500 MW and 200 MW units of Anpara thermal power stations shutting down due to leakage in boilers and Obra generating half of its capacity, the total generation in Uttar Pradesh dipped at the new low of about 1,400 MW against peak hour demand touching 7,000 MW.

``The power scenario is dismal and it is highly unlikley that the situation will improve in the next two days,'' Ashok Kumar, General Manager (Sytems), UP Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) told UNI here.

The scheduled as well as unscheduled power cuts had to be imposed in urban and rural areas of the state, affecting the festive atmosphere. Reports reaching here indicated power cuts in all major cities, apart from rural areas of the state.

The power crisis began a couple of days ago when the units in Rihand, Singrauli and Unchahar at NTPC power stations were affected due to various technical reasons, posing a danger to the Northern Grid. Although the situation in the Central Sector had improved, the problem at Anpara and Obra caused the crisis.

Despite the import of about 2,600 MW of electricty, the state was still left with a shortfall of about 3,500-4,000 MW, a huge gap between demand and supply in the days of festivals.

Meanwhile, the top brass of UPPCL held a meeting to discuss trouble shooting measures, which was unlikely to help in view of the increased demand all over U.P. - UNI

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