Centre says UP can procure power to meet shortfall

Rebutting UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav's charge blaming the central government for the massive power outages in the state, the union power ministry Friday said the state was not drawing its allocated power and suggested that it purchase from power exchanges to meet any shortfall.

"The state is not taking power equivalent to its allocation from gas based stations of Anta, Aurayia and Dadri, and in case requisition is made by the state distribution utilities, about 300 MW can be made available immediately," a power ministry release here said.

"UP can also procure adequate power from the power exchanges to meet its shortage," it added.

"It's easy to blame others. There is enough power available in the Exchange for the UP government to buy, just the way they bought it before elections. They can buy it now", Power Minister Piyush Goyal said.

"I urge the chief minister of UP to stop making excuses. There is no shortage. Only one state-run plant has failed which should be restored in 24 hours," Goyal added.

In a statement Thursday, Akhilesh Yadav had said: "UP is only getting 4,200 MW instead of 6,002 MW from the Centre."

Pointing out that the peak demand of Uttar Pradesh is 12,700 MW, of which around 10,700 MW is met leaving a shortfall of around of 2,000 MW at present, the power ministry laid out a set of solutions available to the state government.

"The availability of power from the Central Generating Power Stations (CGPS) to UP is also normal. Power can also be requisitioned from other surplus states of northern region for which there is no transmission constraint," the union power ministry said.

"Further, 377 MW from NTPC's Jhajjar plant is also available which can be requisitioned by the state. During the election days, UP did procure 277 MW from NTPC's Jhajjar plant from May 3 to May 15," it added.

Uttar Pradesh is currently reeling under power cuts that often last 10 hours or more, hitting hard ordinary citizens as well as industry and agriculture.