The Uttar Pradesh power crisis has reached an inflection point. The state is faced with acute power shortage — from the ghats of Varanasi to the villages of Noida, public anger is now spilling onto the streets. Locals are calling out boastful ministers on their hollow promises of 24-hour electricity.
Things have come to such a pass that when locals in the Sultanpur district complained to a visiting UP Power Minister Arvind Kumar Sharma about just three hours of electricity per day, he responded with “Jai Shri Ram” and drove away. While that has lit up social media, the state’s power grid remains dark.
As power outages sweep Uttar Pradesh, HT decodes the principal challenges facing the Yogi Adityanath government — from infrastructural bottlenecks to privatisation issues that have turned the streets and mohallas of the state into a virtual inferno.
What is the UP power crisis?
Demand for electricity in India’s most populous state has more than doubled in the past decade to a peak of more than 30,000 MW, but the state doesn’t have the financial wherewithal to meet the demand.
Add to that high transmission and distribution losses and limitations in utilising renewable energy sources, and you are staring at a shortfall that translates to three hours of electricity per day in a Sultanpur.
Such is the UP power crisis that it dominates discourse in the power corridors of Lucknow. Power Minister Sharma is annoyed at the top management of the power department, to the extent of calling them names at high-level meeting.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has blamed employees in the state electricity department for the power shortage — a ruse that BJP workers are parroting in front of the agonised public.
Manpower shortage = UP power outage
The Yogi Adityanath government doesn’t have the required manpower to address the demand for electricity in Uttar Pradesh.
According to the Rozgar Adhikar Abhiyan, about 40,000 posts are lying vacant in the state electricity department—many of them for junior engineers and field staff. That, when the existing employees have been overworked to the limit—officials of the Junior Engineers’ Association say that each junior engineer is incharge of a 20-km area.
Meanwhile, employee unions claim that thousands of experienced contractual workers are being removed or transferred. They say that the UP government’s transfer policy cannot be implemented in the power department in its present form because only an engineer incharge of a location knows the technical difficulties in his area.
What is the story of transformer breakdowns?
A transformer has to be replaced after three breakdowns. In Uttar Pradesh, its pressed back into service even after 10 rounds of repair and service. That results in increased load and damages beyond repair, leading to long power outages.
Employees in the state’s power department allege that the transformers are of inferior quality to begin with, resulting in frequent breakdowns.
It is routine to complete maintenance work for power equipment by February every year since demand for electricity shoots up from April to August. But employee unions claim that the UP government is lacking there as well, by not providing basic equipment like transformer dowels, oil, fuse wire, etc.
Privatisation of UP power discoms
In the face of public protests, the Uttar Pradesh government has decided to go ahead with the privatisation of two state-run power distribution companies— Purvanchal Vidyut Vitaran Nigam Ltd. (for Prayagraj and Varanasi zone) and Dakshinanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Ltd. (for Agra zone). Together, they cover 40 districts in the state.
UP has two more power discoms—Madhyanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Ltd. (Lucknow and Ayodhya zone) and Paschimanchal Vidyut Vitaran Nigam Ltd. (Meerut zone).
UP govt promise on power supply
The government announced 24-hour electricity at district headquarters, 21 hours and 30 minutes at tehsil headquarters, 18 hours in rural areas and 10 hours for irrigation tubewells. Thus far, it has remained just a promise.