Calcutta, June 23: Large parts of Calcutta suffered power cuts for at least an hour today as the Kolaghat power plant generated way below capacity because of wet coal.

In the districts, the situation was worse, with many areas suffering blackouts for four to five hours.

The shortfall in the districts was 350MW in the evening peak hours. In the city, the deficit was 126MW.

The managing director of the state power development corporation, S. Mahapatra, said five 210MW units at Kolaghat in East Midnapore could not generate more than 700MW because of the damp coal “despite our best efforts”.

“We could not push the generation beyond 700MW. We have sent an SOS to Eastern Coalfields Ltd, requesting it to send some good quality coal to Kolaghat,” he added.

The power crisis is expected to continue for the next few days as the Met office has forecast more rain in the coal belt.