Power crisis in Uttar Pradesh continues

Officials say technical glitches in state's power plants behind crisis

Uttar Pradesh continued to face power outages Wednesday due to technical glitches in some of the state's power plants, an official said.

Major cities like Varanasi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's parliamentary constituency, Ghaziabad and Noida, besides others, had power cuts for a long time.

Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL) officials told IANS that efforts were on to bring back the power supply to normal.

Officials said a 500 MW unit in Aanpara was not functional since Tuesday, while a 600 MW unit of Lanco power plant was dysfunctional for the last two days.

One unit at Harduaganj was also not working, while a 250 MW unit at Parischa was operationalised late Tuesday. Nearly 200 MW was being drawn from the central pool, an official told IANS.

Technical problems coupled with a lack of rainfall in most parts of the state for the last one week have led to a power crisis in many districts, including Varanasi, Mainpuri, Etawah, Kannauj, Noida, Ghaziabad and Rampur.

However, the state capital has been an exception to the long power cuts.

A P Mishra, managing director of UPPCL, said Lanco's unit is likely to begin work again Wednesday.

The state's power supply Tuesday was 10,991 MW, while the demand peaked to 13,000 MW.