Uttarakhand reels under severe power crisis

"We have purchased 100 MW of power from the open market which will give considerable relief to our state," a spokesman of state-owned Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited said.

The move came after Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna, who said the government will buy power from outside to ensure electricity supply, faced criticism from the opposition over the issue, with BJP leader Ajay Bhatt demanding immediate steps in this regard.

Union minister Harish Rawat has also asked the government to improve the power supply by buying from other states.

Acute shortage of electricity has adversely impacted the industrial sector in the state, with power cuts ranging from 10 to 15 hours prompting industrialists to raise up the issue.

"We have lodged a strong protest before the government over the worsening power scenario in Uttarakhand, president of Industries Association of Uttarakhand (IAU) Pankaj Gupta said, warning the situation can "badly affect" fresh investments and "force" industries to move out of the state.

He also asked government to give preference to hydro-power for a "long-term" solution to the problem.

Yogesh Jindal, head of the KVS Steel Limited at Kashipur in Kumaon region, also said functioning of the unit was badly affected due to "10 to 15 hours of power cut" per day.

Meanwhile, situation for common people is no different who are facing the double whammy of acute heat waves, compounded by 6 to 8 hours of daily power cut.

After an addition of 20 million units in past few days, the power generation by state-run Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited plummeted again to 12 million units, creating a shortfall of 4 to 6 million units per day.

The power demand, on the other hand, rose to 33 to 34 million units per day, which is 15 per cent higher than the demand for the same period last year.