NEW DELHI : A major power crisis seems to be staring Delhi in the face with no promise of relief. If the present trend is any indication, the Capital's citizens are in for long dark winter, making a mockery of the much- publicised power privatisation and the promise of the Sheila Dikshit Government to provide a "power cut-free Delhi'' regime even after three- and- a- half years into the painful experiment.

So bad is the situation that even at the onset of winter the authorities are resorting to load-shedding amounting to 550 MW to 600 MW. This at a time when the peak power demand is only 2500 MW. Delhiites are being subjected to prolonged power cuts and load-shedding stretching from four to eight hours a day in rotation. . "The Government is in a state of stagnation. No advance power purchase agreements have been made from other sources highlighting the indecision and complete state of paralysis in the functioning of the Power Department. This is really going to be a very harsh winter for the people of Delhi,'' a senior official remarked.

The elected representatives are already feeling the heat of the continued power cuts. "The situation is very bad. People are virtually thronging the premises of elected representatives seeking an answer as to why the power situation continues to be bad even after privatisation. The much held out promise of improvement has failed to yield results and we are virtually back to pre-Delhi Vidyut Board days,'' acknowledged a senior Minister.

However, many of the Ministers and MLAs blame the present situation on indecisiveness at the highest levels coupled with inability to enter into power purchase agreements with "other sources'' on time. The argument forwarded by the authorities that the Nathpa Jhakri hydropower project is down and only two units are functioning and output from other hydropower projects is also down leading to deficiency in the Northern Grid does not hold water.

It is a well-known fact that hydropower is not available during winter months and such projects in Uttaranchal and Himachal Pradesh record a huge fall in production. This happens every year. The only difference is that this year has witnessed a complete lack of foresight on behalf of the Delhi Government to work out things before hand.

On their part, the private distribution companies lay the blame at the doorstep of Delhi Transco that supplies power. It is alleged that Transco has been selling power to other States during peak hours at the expense of Delhi consumers, something it had done in the past also.

"The definition of privatisation seems to assuming a totally new meaning. It is being seen as something that has increased harassment, financial burden and agony of lakhs of consumers faring very poorly quality wise. Ms. Dikshit has failed to fulfil the "no blackout'' promise even after more than three years of privatisation. It would serve well the Government to keep the interest of the consumers uppermost than that of the private companies ,'' said another Minister.

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