The power crisis faced by Punjab in view of the ‘Rail Roko’ agitation by farmers against central government’s farm bills has landed the state in a peculiar situation.
Staring at a severe power shortage parleys to mitigate the crisis but to no avail so far. The Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) officials had formally declared that the state power generation plants were left with coal only for a few more days.
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The crisis is getting deeper with each passing day. The refusal of the Centre to ply goods trains till all tracks are vacated by protesting farmers has worsened the situation.
This apart, the state is also facing an acute shortage of fertilisers for sowing wheat and potatoes.
The non-plying of goods trains has also resulted in a shortage of gunny bags to store paddy and shelled rice, besides leading to piling up of huge stocks of grains waiting to be transported out of the state.
Farmer unions, on the other hand, claim that they had vacated tracks for the goods trains to ply but the same was stopped under conspiracy to derail their opposition to the farm bills. They have termed the Centre’s refusal to ply goods trains as arm twisting.
This year Punjab is not able to lend any power bank and is instead buying power from Centre on instant payment. Punjab will have to procure an estimated 3200 MU (Mega Units) from the pool to meet next season’s demand. The present crisis will thus have repercussion next year and farmers will not get supply for paddy sowing season.
The thermal power plants of the state are struggling with coal shortage due to the restriction on the movement of goods trains in Punjab. The situation of the power crisis in Punjab has become critical.
Meanwhile, PSPCL CMD (Chairman-Cum-Managing Director) A Venu Prasad said that in view of the critical situation of the power crisis, PSPCL may go for wider power cuts throughout the state
