Powerless in the Capital

NEW DELHI: The power situation in the Capital remains grim, even as the mercury rises every day. With the power supply falling short by some 600 mw, Delhiites are preparing to face yet another 'powerless' summer.

The average peak demand for the Capital is 3300 mw and this summer it is expected to touch 3700 mw. The state's power plants put together produce about 1400 MW. Another 1700 mw comes from central allocation leaving a shortage of 600 MW.

The power cut on Monday in parts of south and east Delhi stretched from eight to ten hours, leaving the residents sweating and sweltering.

The reason for such long hours of load shedding was the collapse of Ballabhgarh-Badarpur line following a fault in 400 kv sub-station in Ballabgarh.

The city's power plants too fell short of optimum production. S R Sethi, Director, Operations, Delhi Transco says, "This situation will continue to be grim for some time." Delhi is looking forward to Teri Power for a 600 MW supply by 2009. Mega projects in Chattisgarh and MP could give the state about 1250 MW.

The Teri Hydro Project will give about 600 MW and the Tata Project around 1000 MW. But these will take time to materialise.