Engineers demand blueprint for 24-hr power supply in UP

Blame faulty policies, over dependence of pvt sector for decay in state's power situation

Amid claims to provide uninterrupted power supply in Uttar Pradesh by 2017, the All India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) on Thursday asked the state government to release its blueprint.

On Wednesday, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav had met Union Minister of State for Power and Coal Piyush Goyal in New Delhi, to discuss vital issues pertaining to power generation, transmission and distribution.

AIPEF Chairman Shailendra Dubey termed the meeting as a “mere formality”. “Yet, both the Central and state governments have promised about providing 24-hour power supply in Uttar Pradesh. In this context, the state should issue the blueprint, so that the ground realities become clear,” he said.

Dubey also said  faulty energy policies and over-dependence on private sector were responsible for the “deterioration” of the situation in the past two decades. He said the power situation would only improve if the energy policy was overhauled.

Dubey said in the past nine years, the private sector had been awarded power projects totalling 17,000 megawatt (Mw), but there was little development. On the contrary, the state sector was assigned projects of 1,000 Mw, to be functional by 2015.

“This shows if the state sector had been awarded even half of the 17,000 Mw projects tasked to private sector, Uttar Pradesh would have become self-reliant in power generation by now,” Dubey said.

He censured Gadgil formula that guides the allocation of power to the states as redundant and irrelevant in the present context. Uttar Pradesh is facing perennial power shortage, owing to the widening demand-supply gap.

The gap stood at about 3,000 Mw during peak hours.