Much of Andhra Pradesh was plunged into darkness and the Southern grid was severely stressed as power sector employees in the Seemandhra region continued their strike protesting against the move to carve out Telangana.
With generation down by more than 4,000 MW, all the 13 districts in the Seemandhra went without power. Essential services such as hospitals and railways were badly hit. The Visakhapatnam airport is running on generators. The impact is being felt in the Telangana region also, with unscheduled outages. This sudden drop in generation can affect the Southern Grid, Government sources said.
Power generation has come to a halt at the 1,760 MW Narla Tata Rao thermal power station in Vijayawada, the 1,100 MW Rayalaseema thermal power station, and the 770 MW hydel power house at Srisailam.
K. Vijayanand, Managing Director, AP Genco, told
A senior official at Power System Operation Corporation said the grid is being monitored round the clock to prevent any disturbance. Steps have been taken to procure power through open access to meet the shortfall.
The NTPC-Simhadri power plant, with four 500 MW units, is generating only 1,500 MW for want of adequate coal.
Train services hit
Train services in the South-Eastern Railway zone were hit. Passengers were stranded in several stations in the coastal Andhra region. With power down, some express trains were run by pressing diesel locos into service.
Truck movement between Tamil Nadu and the eastern States of West Bengal, Odisha and Assam have also been hit as many truckers are reluctant to enter AP fearing violence.
Highways blocked
“Highways are blocked. With no clarity on the exact situation on road blocks, truckers are now waiting and watching,” said S. P. Singh, Senior Fellow, Indian Foundation of Transport Research and Training.
(With inputs from Ch.R.S.Sarma, Mamuni Das and Siddhartha P. Saikia.)