Power supply was disrupted on Monday and there was a blackout in most coastal towns and villages in Andhra Pradesh as the electricity employees went on strike in the coastal districts and Rayalaseema area against the Union Government's decision to bifurcate the State and form Telangana.
All industries, commercial establishments and other institutions were hit.
The Visakhapatnam steel plant, which experienced minor disruption in production on Sunday, was totally disconnected from the State power grid on Monday and the plant was running solely on captive power units with a capacity of 240 MW. Sources said only the most essential systems were being maintained and the production was curtailed.
HPCL Visakha refinery sources said the refinery was running on captive power and there was no impact on the production.
The units in the Jawaharlal Nehru Phrama City at Parawada were also facing a huge problem, according to Lal Krishna, the CEO of Ramky, the developer. He said 43 units were functioning in the pharma city and most of the units were managing with limited supply on captive diesel power sets.
Only a few of the bigger companies such as Eisai and Hospira had full captive power backup and the smaller units were totally dependent on supply by the State Government. “We are facing a huge problem here. We may not even be able to supply water to the units as it is not reaching us from the Yeleru canal. Many of them are process units. We are desperately hoping the power supply will be restored,” he said.
Other industries in Visakhapatnam and other towns had to stop production because of the power cut. Several trains on the Vijayawada-Chennai section, Visakhapatnam-Vijayawada section and Visakhapatnam-Bhubaneswar section were stopped because of disruption in power supply.
Power generation at the Narla Tata Rao thermal power station at Ibrahimpatnam near Vijayawada came to a total halt on Sunday night. The plant generates 1,750 MW of power.
Bharat Heavy Plate and Vessels (BHPV) at Visakhapatnam was affected and only some essential units were being operated on diesel sets, according to sources. Water supply to the BHPV colony was also disrupted.
The NTPC-Simhadri power plant, with four units of 500 MW apiece, is currently generating only 1,500 MW, according to sources, for want of adequate coal. Of the 1,500 MW, currently 1,000 MW is being supplied to the AP State grid. “We will increase power generation, if we get enough coal from the Mahanadi coal fields. At present, we have no problem in power generation,” said an official.
The jute mills in Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts, the rice mills in East Godavari district and the small-scale and medium units in the coastal districts were also hit. The Nagarjuna Fertilisers and Coromandel Fertilisers at Kakinada were being operated on captive power units.
The operations at Visakhapatnam port were also affected.