By TN Raghunatha
In major fallout of the ongoing Telangana agitation, Maharashtra is facing a power shortfall ranging between 2,000 and 2,500 MW, a development that has prompted the State electricity authorities to resort to load-shedding in both rural and urban areas.
The authorities have attributed such a sizeable power shortfall to both the coal shortage-triggered reduction in power generation four units in Maharashtra and suspension of electricity supply by NTPC units in Andhra Pradesh. Both factors are an offshoot of the Telangana agitation.
The coal-based thermal power plants at the power plants of Parli, Khaparkheda, Bhusawal, Chandrapur and Koradi are facing a major coal shortage.
The Telangana agitation has complicated matters as these five units have not been receiving regular coal supplies from the companies based in Andhra Pradesh, including Singareni Collieries Company Limited, ever since the Telangana agitation began. The supplies have totally stopped for the last few days.
In its effort to combat the power shortage faced by the state, Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Co. Ltd (MSEDCL) has since Saturday been resorting to load shedding ranging from two and a half hours to five in urban areas and 8 to 11 hours in rural areas in the State.
Simultaneously, the MSEDCL is also trying to reduce the huge gap between the demand and supply of power, which stood at over 2,900 MW on Sunday evening, by purchasing power from the Power Exchange India Limited and other sources of electricity.
Confirming that the state power utility was facing a major power shortage, MSEDCL†s managing director Ajoy Mehta told The Pioneer here on Sunday: “Yes. We are facing a major shortage. One of the reasons for the shortfall is that we are not receiving 1,000 MW from NTPC units based in Andhra Pradesh. In addition, we have not been receiving adequate power from Parli and Khaparkeda owing to shortage of coal†. [From Daily Pioneer]