Seemandhra remains without electricity for third day

Many parts of the Seemandhra region remained without electricity for the third day Tuesday as employees of power entities continued their indefinite strike to protest the central government's decision to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh.

Ignoring the state government's appeal to end the strike in view of the hardships caused to people, about 30,000 employees in all 13 districts of Seemandhra (Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra) continued their strike, almost paralysing electricity generation and transmission.

The strike has plunged several towns and hundreds of villages into darkness, causing severe hardships to patients in hospitals, affecting the drinking and irrigation water supply, leading to cancellation of trains and disrupting internet and ATM services. Hundreds of industries have also shut down production.

People have lost contact with the outside world as their mobile phones ran out of charge. In many towns, people were not even able to draw money from ATMs.

The strike has brought the generation of electricity to a standstill in all major power plants in Seemandhra. The strike has also impacted Hyderabad and other parts of Telangana with authorities imposing power cuts to tide over the shortage.

The state has a demand of 11,000 MW, but only 7,200 MW is being supplied. According to officials of Andhra Pradesh Generation Corporation (AP Genco), generation of 3,870 MW has come to a halt. The authorities are purchasing 24 million units from outside the state to make up for the deficit.

As the strike continues, threat still looms over production in the southern grid. The grid collapse may disrupt electricity supply in all southern states. The authorities are taking steps to prevent grid collapse by purchasing additional power to maintain grid frequency.