Sweltering heat in Delhi and massive power outages have the capital begging for relief.
Union power minister Piyush Goyal called an emergency meeting with top officials including Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung on Tuesday to discuss the crisis. He said a deadline of 10 days has been set for to restore three major transmission lines that were damaged during a recent dust-storm. The maximum on Tuesday is expected to touch 46 degrees. On Monday, parts of the city spent six hours without electricity.
The Met Department says the heat wave will extend till at least Thursday; that news was accompanied by a worrying forecast of an inadequate monsoon.
The power shortage has turned into a perfect political storm with parties trading charges to fix responsibility. The minister said the Congress government, which was in charge of Delhi for 15 years, is to blame. ‘The crux of the problem is clearly the lack of decision-making, lack of investment in infrastructure and lack of forward planning since 2002,’ Goyal said.
Speaking after a two-and-a-half hour emergency meeting with Najeeb Jung and senior executives of Delhi Transco, Power Grid Corporation and power utilities, the minister warned that dilapidated power grids could not cope with the extra electricity needed to meet demand. Inadequate transmission lines meant Delhi could absorb 400 MW of power on top of its existing 5,300 MW, falling short of current peak demand of 5,800 MW.
He blamed the ‘massive policy paralysis, poor decision making’ of the previous Delhi government for the problems in power sector.
The Centre has offered its assistance to the Delhi government and its utilities to restore power transmission systems in mission mode, the minister said.
Goyal, however, added that transmission lines damaged by last month’s severe storm will be repaired in 15 days. Besides repairing broken lines within 24 hours, the government has ordered GAIL to provide extra natural gas to power plants in the national capital.
North India has endured a heatwave in the last week, with temperatures in some parts of Delhi reaching a 62-year high, sending power demand surging.
Government establishments, including Delhi Secretariat and other government offices, universities, colleges have been advised to switch off air conditioning between 3.30 and 4.30 pm to conserve power during day peak hours.