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Raje Govt. announces load-shedding schedule

JAIPUR: Confronted with a major power crisis caused by a sudden shortage of 2 crore units of electricity, the Rajasthan Government on Sunday announced load-shedding in all towns and villages with a population of over 5,000 and power cut to big industrial units with more than 3 MVa load from Monday.

The load-shedding, likely to continue until the power supply is restored to the normal level, will exclude essential services from its purview, while uninterrupted supply will be ensured to agricultural consumers in three blocks of six-and-a-half hours each everyday during the rabi crop season.

The decision was taken at a high-level meeting held at Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Prasaran Nigam here to review the situation arising out of decrease in power supply from the Central power houses, which have reduced their overall production, and closure of some power units in the State due to technical snags.

A Nigam spokesperson said here that the load-shedding would be carried out for two hours everyday in Jaipur, three hours at divisional headquarters, four hours at district headquarters and five hours in all Municipal Council areas across the State as well as villages with a population of more than 5,000.

Big industries drawing a load of over 3 MVa will be subjected to power cut for 12 hours – from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. – everyday. The number of such units operating in the State is estimated to be about 100.

The public sector power distribution companies in the State are facing the sudden and unexpected shortage in the New Year after supplying electricity to consumers without any major load-shedding during the past nine months. The spokesperson said the power cut had been necessitated by a sudden drop of 70 lakh to 80 lakh units from the Northern Grid, the frequency of which had reduced to less than 49 Hertz over the weekend.

Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje has already requested her counterpart in Chhattisgarh, Raman Singh, to supply 200 MW power to the State, while the public sector power companies were trying to get additional electricity from other States.

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