Power minister urge consumers to bear load-shedding

Lokmat News Network

Aurangabad, April 11:

The state energy minister Nitin Raut today apprised about the hardship being faced by the government level and the power entity to maintain the power supply in the state.

“ We are ready to purchase surplus power but it is not available. This is pushing us to face hardship in maintaining power voltage. The stock of coal could also exhaust in one and a half days or two days. The load-shedding has been resorted on the lines of Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh. It is necessary to implement it in Maharashtra to tackle the crisis. It has been started partially, but the final decision is yet to be taken upon it. However, the consumers will have to face some inconvenience,” said the minister while speaking to mediapersons in city on Monday.

The minister express his concern saying the state is facing power scarcity, but the power-theft is not getting discontinued. The power stations are getting affected due to it. Earlier, 10 TMC water was taken through discussion with the Department of Water Resources. The water level in our stock is also receeding. A quantity of one TMC water is required to generate power at Koyana Plant. Hence the generation of power through hydro projects is a distant dream. Now, the supply of power is through thermal plants only. Meanwhile, the efforts are underway to maintain the stock of coal before the onset of monsoon. The country is facing shortage of coal for the second time. The plants are in catch 22 situation. If the coal is available, the goods train is not available for transportation and if the racks (goods train) is available the coal is out of stock, said Nitin Raut.

There is severe shortage of power in the market. It will be available on payment of hefty price. Hence there is a dire need for the consumers to volunteer in paying their regular energy bills promptly, he stressed.

Whims of Coal India

Raut said, “ The Coal India is functioning like sethji. The order is released only after payment of money and interest. Moreover, the supply is also late. The availability of coal is also less.”

I am unaware of Nagpur call

The minister said, “ The attack on NCP president Sharad Pawar is indeed an act of condemn. It is unjust to send people to wage an attack. There is no remedy if the attackers have been lured of anything. Besides, I am not aware to whom Adv Gunratna Sadavarte has telephoned on that day in Nagpur.”