NEW DELHI: Amid acute shortage of electricity, the Centre on Saturday appealed to all north Indian states not to overdraw power from the northern grid and proposed to impose a penalty on those who withdraw power beyond their entitled quotas.
    
"We have discussed the power scenario in the northern region and all states have agreed to maintain the grid code and not to overdraw power. The situation is slowly improving, but the demand-supply mismatch continues," Power Secretary R V Shahi told reporters after a two-hour meeting with chief secretaries, secretaries and principal energy secretaries of northern states.
 
"We have started getting 1600 MW from the Sutlej Jal Vidyut Nigam in Himachal Pradesh, which has relieved the situation quite a bit, but the states are required not to overdraw power than their quota," he said.