Telangana protests: Andhra Pradesh faces blackout, comes to a halt

The situation in Andhra Pradesh’s Seemandhra region showed no signs of improvement, as the ongoing strike by 30,000 power sector employees against the bifurcation of the state entered Day 4 on Tuesday. The failure of the southern grid seems imminent.

The power cuts have hit hospital services, trains services, water supply and petrol availability in the state. The airports in Vizag, Tirupati and Vijayawada are running on back up power as the Vijayawada Thermal Power Station in Krishna district has completely shut down.

The power generation remained crippled at the major power stations including Vijayawada thermal power station and the Rayalaseema thermal power station, forcing the authorities to impose power cuts ranging from three to 10 hours.

According to official sources, the total demand was 11,000 MW, while the supply was 7500 MW. "The power generation was affected mostly in the power plants located in Seemandhra regions. These include both thermal and hydel," an official told PTI.

Appealing employees to end their strike, state Congress president Botsa Satyanarayana said he would write a letter to the Centre to call an all-party meeting towards finding a solution to the issue.

"There were some disruptions in the morning and about 4,000 MW supply from plants in the state have been affected," a power ministry official told PTI.

He added that a number of sub-stations and generating stations in the state have been affected but they belong to the state generation and transmission firms, not the Centre.

...

"As far as central PSU plants are concerned they have not been affected at all," he added.

The total installed capacity of Andhra Pradesh is over 17,000 MW.

...

"We have decided to give them (AP) 300-400 MW from the national grid but that can only be evacuated if they have the transmission capacity to absorb it," the official said.

The Seemandhra region and also Hyderabad are facing power crisis as the employees of state's power firms went on an indefinite strike on Sunday.

...

The crisis has also affected the health services across the state. The Union Cabinet is expected to meet on Tuesday to discuss the power situation in Andhra Pradesh.

After YSR Congress President Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, who is already on an indefinite fast, Telugu Desam Party leader Chandrababu Naidu also launched on Monday his own indefinite fast against the division of the state, in Delhi.

...