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The Andhra Pradesh government is showing no signs of urgency in restoring normalcy even as half of the state plunged into black out since Sunday after the staff of power utilities in coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema (Seemandhra region) districts joined the ongoing stir against the state bifurcation.
State finance minister Anam Ramanarayan Reddy on Monday said anti-social elements had entered the ongoing agitations turning them violent in several places. However, the government did not spell out any concrete measures to restore the normalcy at least in emergency services like power generation and distribution except appealing to its employees and power utility staff in Seemandhra to return to duties.
This was how the situation on ground prevailed on Monday: The drawl of power stood at 300 Mw as against the normal supply of 1,500 Mw in five districts under Eastern Power Distribution Company Limited (EPDCL), which caters to the needs of major coastal economic centres like Visakhapatnam. Similarly, in six districts under Southern Power Distribution Company (SPDCL), which covers important coastal districts such as Krishna, Guntur and Nellore, the actual supply was just about 450 Mw as against the normal supply of about 2,000 Mw. This indicates the distribution network was shut in most parts by the striking employees.
Situation turned serious yesterday itself when the power staff allegedly tripped the transmission substations responsible for evacuation of power from the 1,760-Mw Vijayawada Thermal Power Station in Krishna district and from the 1,720-Mw Rayalaseema Thermal Power Station in Kadapa district. Similarly, a couple of hydro electric projects, including the 770-Mw Srisailam left bank power house, had stopped generation since Sunday.
Though there was no power generation to an extent of 3,900 Mw across these units, this did not impact the grid stability as there was a simultaneous shutdown in distribution network restricting consumption. However, any attempt to sabotage the 400 KV lines would threaten the stability of the entire Southern Grid , according to energy experts.
"The situation is pretty bad," said Munindra, special secretary - energy department. The department officials apprised chief secretary AK Mohanty of the latest situation after holding negotiations with the leaders of striking employees on Monday morning without any outcome.
No precaution or alternative arrangements appeared to have been made by the power utilities to avert such a situation despite the prior knowledge of indefinite strike called by the Seemandhra power utility staff.
There was no sense of urgency visible in the actions of chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy even on Monday. He indicated to meet the leaders of the striking employees on Wednesday even after the striking employees wanted to meet none other than the chief minister for some peculiar reasons. Government offices and public transport had been shut for the past couple of months.
Brahmotsavam
There has been no power cut in Tirumala where the Brahmotsavams of Lord Venkateshwara are being celebrated. However, due to the on-going agitation in Seemandhra, pilgrims inflow to the Seven Hills had considerably declined. According to a spokesperson of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), the number of pilgrims visiting the temple declined to 30,000-40,000 a day as against the normal inflow of 60,000- 80,000. Accordingly, the Hundi collections have declined from a normal of around Rs 2.5 crore to little over Rs 1.5 crore a day in the last 60 days.
Industries
Power blockade has affected operations of all the 30 pharmaceutical companies in the Pharma City at Visakhapatnam. According to an industrialist, who didn't want to be named, this would result in a daily loss of about Rs 60 crore. The cost of production through diesel power was stated to be double than the conventional source.
Production of hot metal in Visakhapatnam steel plant dropped 70 per cent from 10,000 tonnes a day to 3,000 tonnes. Production of finished steel was completely stalled. The state grid supplies 130-150 Mw power out of a total of 260 Mw required by the steel plant a year. The production loss on Monday was estimated to be over Rs 20 crore.
Visakhapatnam port could handle only 25,000 tonnes of cargo on Monday as against a normal of 150,000- 180,000 tonnes. Similarly, at Gangavaram port only 5,000 tonne cargo was handled as against its daily capacity of about 70,000 tonnes.
Operations of Reliance Industries in the Krishna-Godavari basin were learnt to have remained unaffected on Monday as the company has captive generation. Production at Coromandel Fertilisers, belonging to the Chennai-based Murugappa group, too was unaffected as it has captive power generation facility.
Railways
Owing to the ongoing strike by the electricity employees in the Seemandhra region, the South Central Railway (SCR) on Sunday cancelled seven trains between Vijayawada and Renigunta. "The losses, however, had been minimal as these were passengers trains," an SCR spokesperson told Business Standard.
Stating that the SCR was now scheduling its trains based on the power supply position, he said the railways was keeping ready diesel locos (engines) to tide over any likely power crisis, going forward.
"Short-distance commuters faced a lot of problems on Sunday. Keeping this in view, we are running five special trains from Vijayawada to different directions like Gudur, Guntur and Bhimavaram today to cater to the needs of these commuters," he added.
Hotels
With the disturbances in the Seemandhra region, the occupancy rates, which on regular days used to be 40 per cent there, have now come down to 15-20 per cent, said Pradeep Kumar Dutt, general secretary of Hotels and Restaurants Association of Andhra Pradesh. "The loss incurred by the hotels in the Seemandhra region since the last couple of days is yet to be assessed," he added.
ATMs
Operations of ATMs, except those set up near branches of various banks, have been disrupted on account of the power shutdown. Consequently, there had been huge withdrawals at ATMs near banks, which operated with diesel power.
APSRTC loss at Rs 8-9 crore
The Andhra Pradesh Road Transport Corporation (APSRTC) has been incurring a loss of between Rs 8 crore and Rs 9 crore a day in the Seemandhra region due to the ongoing agitation.
"Almost 11,000 buses across 123 depots in the Seemandhra region have been off the roads since the last couple of days," said G R Kiran, public relations officer of APSRTC.
