CPI-M says PM's call to switch off lights on Sunday poses threat to national grid

The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) on Saturday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's appeal to switch off lights for nine minutes on Sunday night and light earthen lamps, candles or use torches or flashlights to strengthen a collective resolve to fight COVID-19 "poses a real threat to the country's electrical system -- the national grid."

The party politburo said in a statement that the grid could turn unstable and collapse and it will have consequences for hospitals, the doctors, health workers and patients in the crucial battle against COVID-19.

The party demanded that the Prime Minister should withdraw his call.

"The Prime Minister's call to switch off lights for nine minutes on Sunday night to 'fight' COVID-19 poses a real threat to the country's electrical system -- the national grid. What could happen to the grid with the simultaneous switching off and on of all household lighting load, roughly 15 per cent to 20 per cent of the grid's power? The grid could turn unstable and collapse," the party said.

"We could then have a cascading blackout as it happened over most of India in July 2012," it added. The party said bringing the grid operations back to normal can take at least two-three days.

"Imagine the consequences for our hospitals, the doctors, health workers and patients in our crucial battle against COVID-19. Imagine what would happen to all of us in the dark, locked up in our houses," the party said.

The statement said that national and state grid authorities have already warned the Central and the state governments of the danger to the grid.

"The PM should immediately withdraw this call of a self-imposed blackout of the nation. If the grid trips, the country will have to face the consequences of no electricity, and no ability to fight the epidemic till power is restored. This is a risk that the county, reeling under the current lockdown and the COVID-19 epidemic, cannot, and must not take," the party said.

The Prime Minister, in a video message on Friday, appealed to citizens to together challenge the darkness spread by the coronavirus crisis and take their resolve to defeat it to greater heights. He had appealed to people to turn off lights in their homes at 9 pm on Sunday and stand at doors or in balconies and light candles or diyas or use torches or mobile flashlights for nine minutes.

He said the step will clearly illuminate the common purpose of the citizens. "In that light, in that radiance, let us resolve in our minds that we are not alone, that no one is alone and 130 crore Indians are committed through a common resolve," he had said.

The country is currently under 21-day lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus. It was announced on March 24.