NEWSLINKS US EDITION SOUTH ASIA COLUMNISTS DIARY SPECIALS INTERVIEWS CAPITAL BUZZ REDIFF POLL DEAR REDIFF THE STATES ELECTIONS ARCHIVES US ARCHIVES SEARCH REDIFF
Power supply was 'near normal' by around 1100 hours on Wednesday in western India, where five states -- Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Goa -- plunged into darkness on Tuesday night following collapse of the western grid due to the overdrawing of power by Madhya Pradesh.
"We have restored about 90 per cent power supply in the five states after synchronising the grid," R P Singh, chairman of the Power Grid Corporation of India Limited, told PTI after the nightlong salvaging operations.
"We have brought about 15,000 MW power into the system to meet the almost entire non-peak demand," Singh said, adding that power supply to all the essential services, including trains was resumed after midnight.
A nearly 20 per cent increase in demand due to the drought-like situation and grid indiscipline by states like Madhya Pradesh had led to the collapse, he said, emphasising that states should adhere to their quotas to avoid recurrence of such a situation.
The PGCIL chief also added the grid was under pressure as nearly 6,000 MW capacity plants were closed down for maintenance work.
By early this morning the PGCIL had restored power to Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh, but was having problems in connecting Maharashtra and Goa to the regional grid, he said.
There were problems in connectors and isolators at Nashik and Kasara, which are the connecting points for the two states, he added.
Speaking to rediff.com, A Velayytham, Member Secretary, Western Region Electricity Board said, "Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat have come back to normalcy. However, in Maharashtra and Goa the work is going on in full swing and we expect to restore normalcy soon."
Earlier, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh had rejected the charges that excessive withdrawal of power by his state had led to a collapse of the regional grid saying they had drawn 414 MW extra in accordance with the June 2002 norms.
The state has a quota of 1256 MW, he said, and was free to draw Chhattisgarh's 414 MW quota if remained unused by the latter as per an agreement between the two states at the central level in June this year.
"If one goes by facts, one will conclude that last night as far as Madhya Pradesh was concerned, it did not overdraw. Instead, it was a case of underdrawal," Singh said.
In addition to this, the state can get 100 MW as bonus because of the success of reforms initiated by it in the power sector, the chief minister claimed.
Apart from this, the state has an additional 68 MW and when one totals all this, the final figure comes to 1,838 MW.
"As against this, Madhya Pradesh had only used 1,805 MW last night and this clearly proves that there was no overdrawal by the state," Singh added.
Asked to comment on the reasons for the grid failure, he said, "A four member inquiry committee is likely to be set up by the power minister in Delhi to find out the reasons. And it is not appropriate for me to comment anything before the inquiry report comes in."
In New Delhi, Union Power Minister Suresh Prabhu on Wednesday told the Rajya Sabha that the government is gearing up to meet the power crisis following drought in several parts of the country, which could lead to a shortfall of 12 billion units of hydel power.
He said Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee would convene a meeting on conservation of energy on August 23.
In reply to a query, he said setting up of the long pending Rs 800 billion national grid had been cleared by the government and was awaiting Cabinet's nod.
Among the other steps the Centre was mulling over was the tapping of 25,000 MW of captive generation of various units and putting it in the main grid, he added.
Meanwhile, the Maharashtra Energy Minister Dr Padamsinh Patil told the state assembly that he would lodge a complaint against Madhya Pradesh for 'drawing excess power' from the western grid.
Patil said the state government would approach the Centre for seeking penalty from Madhya Pradesh.
A meeting of all states in western grid would be called soon so that such instances do not recur, he added.
Admitting that power supply in Maharashtra, barring Mumbai, has been affected, Patil said, "Only 1190 MW was being generated at present as against the capacity of 9,600 MW of MSEB."
He said that while long distance trains were affected following the power shortage, suburban trains were plying between Churchgate and Virar on the western section and between CST and Kalyan on the central section.
An MSEB technical officer told rediff.com that the available capacity of 9,600 MW would be restored by 2030 hours (IST).
Maharashtra has thermal power stations at Koradi, Chandrapur, KhaparKheda, Bhusaval, Nashik, and Paras-Parli. It has a gas power station at Uran and 24 hydel power stations, the major ones being Koyna, Vaitran, Veer Bhadgarara and Tillari.
"Yesterday all of Maharashtra, except some parts of Mumbai which has power supply from Tatas and BSES, was affected," the official said. "We had given orders to restore the power supply to the railways, the water department and the hospitals first, before restoring it to the residential complexes, factories and offices."
Agencies with input from Syed Firdaus Ashraf in Mumbai
Back to top
Tell us what you think of this report
