Power crisis looms over Mumbai

The prospects of power cuts loom large over Mumbai as the Maharashtra Electricity Transmission Company Ltd (Mahatransco) in its affidavit filed before the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) on Tuesday has stated that congestion in the Chandrapur-Padgha corridor can be removed only by April 24 and work on doubling the Bhadrawati-Chandrapur transmission line will be completed only by the last week of April.

That means Mumbaikars have to sweat it out in March and April. On Monday, during the public hearing called by the power regulator to decide upon load shedding in Mumbai, representative of Mahatransco's sister concern

Maharashtra Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (Mahadiscom) claimed that since Bhadrawati-Chandrapur line is going to be ready very soon, it is possible to bring additional power in Mumbai.

He further said, "Mahadiscom and Tata Power had joint agreement with Jindal Power to buy 200 Mega watt (Mw) power but due to corridor constraints it was not possible to bring that power in Maharashtra, now that power can be brought in to the state and out of which 100 Mw can be supplied to Mumbai.

After which Tata Power shown willingness bring additional 50 Mw from its generation facility at Jameshdpur in Zarkhand. That left the issue of plugging in deficit of 100 Mw as against earlier figure of 250 Mw. The Tata Power even shown willingness to buy power from any other source and bring in Mumbai if power is available.

However as per the directions given by MERC, Mahatransco filed its affidavit on Tuesday. The affidavit filed by Mahatransco says that, Chandrapur-Padgha transmission line is facing severe constraints due to failure of one of the transformers and the work of replacing the transformer will be completed only by April 24.

The affidavit also states that, work of doubling the Chandrapur-Bhadrawati transmission line is likely to be completed only by the end of April. This means it will not be possible to wheel in additional power in Mumbai till the beginning of May and now all eyes are set to the order of MERC which is likely to be delivered on Thursday.