Chandigarh, July 4 (IANS) The residents of various towns in Haryana took to the streets Wednesday to protest against erratic and virtually no power supply in the past 24 hours.
Protestors took to the streets in Rohtak, the hometown of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Yamunanagar, Jind and Gurgaon.
Residents of various localities in Yamunanagar town, 80 km from here, blocked the National High No. 73-A and even clashed with the police Tuesday.
The police resorted to a mild cane charge to disperse the protestors who were demanding regular power supply to their homes.
Talking to residents in Rohtak, Hooda said that the delayed monsoon, deficit rainfall in the month of June and an unabating heat wave had led to the unprecedented increase in the demand for power, and the resultant shortage all over the country.
“The Haryana government is doing its best to meet the shortage by stepping up power supply. Because of the delayed monsoon, the water level in the Bhakra Dam has gone down, resulting in less power production. But all power plants in the state would soon resume normal production and the shortage would ease,” Hooda said.
Urging people to keep patience, he said a delayed monsoon is a natural phenomenon and posed a problem for the entire country.
“Whatever is possible at this point of time is being done by the state government, but the opposition, running short of issues, is making this natural problem a political issue,” Hooda said while blaming opposition leaders for instigating people.
Haryana Power Generation Corporation Limited (HPGCL) spokesman said Wednesday that it is making every possible effort to meet the increased demand for power. He said that, on an average, HPGCL has supplied about 1,024 lakh units (LU) per day up to June end this year against 923 LU per day during the corresponding period last year.
“It supplied a record 1,420 LU June 24 to the consumers in the state,” the spokesman said.
He said that the shortage in supply of electricity was mainly on account of the unprecedented increase in the demand which had shot up to 1,600 LU per day due to the delayed monsoon and poor coal quality and quantity.
He refuted allegations that power supply was affected due to use of faulty Chinese equipment.
Power distribution agency, Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN), Wednesday said that it has been giving priority to Gurgaon for power supply.
“It is getting more power supply compared to other towns of the state, being a commercially important city. There was problem in supply for a few days due to increased demand and lesser availability of power in the state which has considerably improved during the last 36 hours,” a DHBVN spokesman said.
“As per scheduled hours of power supply, the requirement of power of urban domestic and non-domestic and industrial consumers in Gurgaon is about 160 lakh units (115 LU urban + 45 LU for industries) a day against which the DHBVN has supplied 144 LU daily during the month of June. As per schedule, the urban domestic and non-domestic consumers are to get supply for 20 hours a day against which the DHBVN has given supply for average 20.12 hours a day. The industrial consumers have been given supply for an average 16.35 hours a day against the schedule of 18 hours daily. However, there have been tripping and break downs locally in the distribution system,” the spokesman said.
