Power Plight Why is Punjab Pulling Plug on Office Timings & Industrial Output to Save Electricity Explained
Farmers at this time need uninterrupted electricity to run pumps to supply water for pudding during paddy transplantation.The Punjab government has restricted electricity to industry and changed working hours in government offices to 8 am to 2 pm.Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Thursday urged all government offices to make judicious use of electricity, the chief minister said the situation was dire as the peak demand in Punjab had touched 14,500mw.In Jalandhar, domestic consumers chose to walk out of their homes past midnight to lodge a protest outside the PSPCL complaint office till 2 am. However, their plan to gherao the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited complaint office failed as no one was present to address their grievance.Residents have also taken to social media to express their anguish against the power cuts.Shiromani Akali Dal also held protests at various places in the state. Mocking the long power cuts, SAD workers, led by former minister Daljit Singh Cheema, distributed hand fans in Ropar. hundreds of farmers blocked the National Highway at Phagwara’s Sugar Mill Chowk for four hours on Wednesday. Farmers alleged that against the requirement of 8hour uninterrupted power supply, they have been getting just 4-5 hours of supply since paddy sowing started.A PSPLC spokesman said the shortage was due to prolonged dry spells delayed monsoon paddy transplantation and failure of one unit of the Talwandi Sabo thermal power plant in Bathinda district.Engineers said they had been informing the PSPCL and government of the looming crisis and that the wrong decisions being taken by the power authority would lead to unreliable supply and higher electricity tariffs but to no avail.It is ironic that healthy thermal units are not being revived even when the state is in the middle of a major power crisis,” said Jasvir Singh Dhiman, president of the association.