People in Uttar Pradesh have been taking to the streets almost every day to protest a severe power crisis and hours of load-shedding during peak summer.
Residents of Lucknow, Mirzapur, Kanpur, Muzaffarnagar, Ghaziabad, Noida and Chandauli organised a dharna near the power stations in their respective areas on the third consecutive day on Saturday, demanding that the government not “torture them in summer”.
Government sources claimed that many BJP MLAs had written to energy minister A.K. Sharma and senior officers of Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd (UPPCL) to ensure that the people didn’t suffer.
Rajeshwar Singh, the BJP MLA of Sarojini Nagar in Lucknow, is said to have written to Sharma about how people had faced the same problem last year, too, but it was not addressed on a priority basis.
According to a UPPCL report, there are 3.73 crore power consumers in the state, with a total sanctioned load of 8.57 crore kilowatts. It cumulatively supplies around 30,000 megawatts (MW) every day from all the substations, but the demand increased from 27,000MW on May 16 to 32,000MW on May 22.
While there is an imbalance in demand and supply, the corporation unofficially claims 15 per cent of the total power supply is being pilfered.
“We have the target to provide 18 hours of power in rural areas, but we have been verbally asked to shed load three hours every day. On average, snags develop three times a day in an area because of higher consumption. So at the end, the villagers get a maximum of 10-12 hours of electricity. More or less, the situation is the same in cities, but we are still able to supply power for 18 hours,” a UPPCL officer told reporters in Lucknow on condition of anonymity.
Sharma said Uttar Pradesh was among the top states in power generation and supply.
“The department is trying to provide uninterrupted power and is planning additional infrastructure for transmission and distribution,” he said.
Rajesh Mishra, an advocate from Amethi, said: “We are getting only three to four hours of electricity in villages in the district. The farmers are not able to work and hospital patients are suffering immensely. The power department is torturing people in peak summer.”
A large group of women in Allahabad organised a dharna on Friday and Saturday and warned the local administration of huge protests if it did not ensure an uninterrupted power supply.
Allahabad resident Usha Devi said: “The government didn’t do anything in the last eight years to generate more power for the state.”
Ashish Kumar, an engineer in Allahabad, said: “The load is increasing, and the electric wires melt in high temperatures. We are trying to repair all the damage.”
BSP chief Mayawati said the state government should have commissioned new power plants to meet demand.
“The life of the poor, middle-class, farmers, small traders and crores of workers has become miserable because of decreased power supply and frequent power cuts,” she said and suggested ramping up production.