Column

We will celebrate Diwali at a time when the gap between power supply and demand would be a yawning 5,000 MW

Just before Diwali explodes on us with its redeeming cheer, it is customary for columnists writing about the city to dwell on how bleak things are in the run-up to the “festival of lights”.

It is equally customary for readers to move on to another story. So, I will share an anecdote and a fact that most of you may relate to.

First the fact: Recently, the state electricity board has shut down power in “unscheduled” loadshedding, of more than two hours a day, in Thane and Navi Mumbai.

The dark spell, as always, coincided with the dry spell.

When monsoon retreats, it exposes debris of inadequacy in the power generation — a gap of 5,000 MW between supply and demand during peak hours.

Now the anecdote: Last Diwali, I was invited by a group of amiable engineering students — the kind of people who want to change the world, but who seldom change their innerwear — to a candle-lit dinner.

When my wife and I reached the venue, we noticed that the façade was lit by scores of diyas.

The bell was not working, but fortunately the door had a large hammer-shaped knocker.

When we were let in, we walked past a line of more diyas. The sitting area was hushed by the scarce glow of lanterns and scented candles.

Only then did I realise that the house had no power.

“Ladies and gentlemen, you have walked into a survivalist experience,” intoned one of the hosts, a young lady.

“Arthur C Clarke has predicted that one day, we will let barrenness reclaim our lands and that we will allow ourselves to regress to the hunter-gatherer stage. I say, forget terms like ‘let’ and ‘allow’. We will have no choice.”

The whole episode had the mock seriousness of a dormitory hearing on stolen cookies. But when I peered through the window, we were in a Thane neighbourhood, I saw buildings with erratically brightened windows.

That was a tell-tale sign that invertors had taken over the normal power supply.

So, I spent the evening savouring the future; it was sweaty and stifling.

A trailer of that gloomy future visits places like Thane, Navi Mumbai, Kalyan-Dombivali, Sangli, Satara, and Amravati for more than four hours a day.

Rural areas are blacked out for over eight hours a day.

Utilities have appealed to the people to remain calm and to desist from rousing into agitations.

The government seems powerless to meet the power demand and the utilities want us to bear with them. And the Planning Commission is looking up to the Sun for answers.

Kirit Parikh, a member of the commission told a gathering in the city last week: “Our scientists are working towards making provisions whereby solar energy can be stored and used when needed.”

Currently, such solar energy as we can use will cost Rs20per KW per hour, which is prohibitive compared to Rs4 that we pay for conventional energy.

So, efficient delivery of solar energy is still a futuristic aspiration.

I am dismantling my AC and buying a lot of candles. Happy Diwali!

—Email:raghu@dnaindia.net