States in grip of power crisis

Many states, including Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Meghalaya, are facing power shortage. Their power deficits ranged from 7 per cent to 25 per cent in April 2005.

The western region was the worst off. The southern region has the best power situation, with a deficit of only 0.8 per cent.

Most of the southern states, including Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, have shortages of less than 1 per cent, according to the country wide Assocham Eco Pulse (AEP) Survey.

The power deficit is adversely affecting not only industrial production and the agriculture sector, but also making life difficult for the common man.

Businessmen were concerned, with 99 per cent identifying power theft, leakages, and transmission and commercial losses as the main culprit, the survey found.

CEOs had raised concerns over the rising T&C losses, which ranged from 23.6 per cent to 75 per cent in various parts of the country in 2003-04, said an Assocham press release today.

Electricity subsidy led to wastage of power and, therefore, only a certain number of units should be subsidised, they felt.

Vigorous distribution reforms and anti-theft measures, use of non-conventional sources of energy, especially for domestic usage and street lighting, and transfer of surplus power from captive units to state grids, were other suggestions mooted to counter the shortage.

Region wise, it is the highly-industrialised western region that is the worst hit, with an energy deficit of 16.7 per cent in April 2005. Availability in the region is only 15,883 Mw against a requirement of 19,065 Mw.

Maharashtra, which recently witnessed a furore over stoppage of free electricity to farmers, is facing one of the worst crises, with an energy deficit of 19 per cent.

The survey said, India's most industrialised state was resorting to load shedding for 4-5 hours a day, because it faced energy deficit of 1,690 Mw and peak deficit of over 4000 Mw.

"The lack of fresh investment and modernisation, coupled with huge transmission losses, are responsible for the grave power situation in the country," said Mahendra K Sanghi, Assocham president, while releasing the AEP study.

The situation is no better in Gujarat, where the power deficit is 12.7 per cent . The availability in the state was only 4,766 Mw, against a requirement of 5,459 Mw, the figures for April 2005 revealed.

The northern region, where Uttar Pradesh is the worst-hit, faces an overall deficit of 7.9 per cent, with a requirement and availability gap of 1,108 Mw.

In UP, the deficit is almost 18 per cent, since the requirement and availability gap is well over 800 Mw. Delhi, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan are relatively better off.

Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana and Punjab are also facing a power crisis. Bihar, with 19 per cent deficit, is the worst-hit in the eastern region.

It suffers an overall deficit of 4.4 per cent. Madhya Pradesh has only 2250 Mw of power available, against a requirement of 3003 Mw, giving it a deficit of over 25 per cent.