A drought-like weather condition leading to drying up of reservoirs, coupled with inability of the state to draw power from the central grid due to ongoing maintenance work of the power lines, has plunged Assam into a severe power shortage. The state is presently experiencing peak hour shortfall of around 300 MW of power against demand of 1,050 MW, prompting Assam Power Distribution Company Ltd (APDCL) to resort to frequent power cuts across the state.
The distribution company has pleaded helplessness as it sees no chance, at least till mid-April, in improvement of the power scenario.
“We are presently facing shortage of around 300 MW and things are going to be the same till mid-April as maintenance work of grid lines would continue till then. Once the maintenance work is over, we will be able to draw power from the Central grid and things should improve then,” said a senior official of Assam State Electricity Board (ASEB).
He said the availability of power in the grid in the region too was insufficient as generation of power has been severely affected in the region due to rainless weather condition. “All the hydel projects in the region are running below their optimum capacities due to lack of sufficient water in the reservoirs. Thus the availability of power in the grid within the region too was insufficient,” he added.
Further, to make things worse, Assam’s 100 MW Karbi Langpi Hydro Project too is generating just 50 MW of power due to ongoing mandatory maintenance work of one of its two units.
The tea industry of the state, whose crop-production this year has been severely affected due to the dry spell, is now besieged by “abnormal” power cuts.
“The situation is very bad for the tea industry. In some areas we are witnessing power cuts up to 20 to 22 hours daily,” said Dipanjol Deka, secretary of Tea Association of India (TAI).
He added that power cuts were forcing tea factories to use generators, which in turn was adding to its cost of production. “Plucked leaves have to be processed in factories within a specific time limit. Thus factories are forced to use generators. Running generators for 20 hours mean huge increase in production cost,” Deka said.
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Tuesday had a meeting in Dispur to take stock of the drought preparedness and asked the district authorities to submit an action plan soon on how they planned to tackle the situation.
The state government said that there was a 71 per cent deficit in rainfall in Assam this year so far.
