Daily power shortage put at 200 lakh units

Hoshiarpur: Punjab is facing a shortage of more than 200 lakh units of power daily, a senior official said here on Tuesday.

The state is consuming more than 1900 lakh units of power as against the demand of 2100 lakh units daily, he said.

Talking to media here, Chairman cum Managing Director of Punjab State Power Corporation, K D Chaudhary, said as a result of monsoon failure only 8 hours power supply was being given to 80 per cent grids.

Three hours power cuts were being imposed daily at district headquarters in state, he said.

The present circumstances had forced the Powercom to impose a weekly two-day power cut for the industrial sector.

Replying to a question, he said the Punjab government had provided subsidy of Rs 4,200 crore to the Powercom up to March 31, 2012 to compensate it for free power supply to farm sector and BPL families.

In reply to another query, he said the water level in Bhakra dam reservoir had gone down to 40 feet as compared to last year due to failure of monsoon.

Moreover, there was no pre-monsoon showers this time, he added.

He justified providing domestic power connections to the consumers in the unauthorised residential colonies at double the normal rates.