Some of the areas in the state have already faced power outages (Archive)
Chandigarh:
The ongoing rail blockade has severely affected the supply of coal for thermal power plants in Punjab, authorities said on Saturday, as fears of severe power outages in the state mounted.
Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal appealed to farmer groups, who have been protesting the three contentious new agriculture laws, to ease their agitation to allow the movement of freight trains.
“If the (freight) train services are not resumed, I fear that there may be power outages and perhaps a total power outage in the state,” Badal told reporters.
With no movement of freight trains due to indefinite “rail-roko” agitation, the supply of coal in thermal power plants has reached a critical stage.
“We now have two days of coal left,” said Punjab State Power Corporation Limited President and Managing Director Venuprasad.
According to officials, the Lehra Mohabbat, Ropar and GVK thermal power plants are already closed. Two other power plants, Talwandi Sabo and Nabha, are operating at half their total power generation capacity.
Some of the areas of the state have already faced power outages due to decreased electricity generation.
The state is acquiring 6,500 MW of energy from other sources, including private ones, against the demand of more than 7,000 MW.
Different farmers’ organizations have protested against the new agricultural laws. They had intensified their agitation by resorting to rail blockades for an indefinite period from 1 October.
Farmers under the banner of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee have been occupying the train tracks in Amritsar and Ferozepur since September 24.
Meanwhile, several farmers’ organizations held a meeting in Barnala on Saturday to discuss Chief Minister Amarinder Singh’s call to relax his “rail-roko” agitation.
However, it ended without any decision, as representatives of some farmers’ organizations were able to attend the meeting.
At their meeting on October 7, peasant leaders ignored Singh’s call to allow freight trains.
While appealing to farmers, the Chief Minister had said that the state government urgently needed to transport food grains, coal, fertilizers and oil with priority, in addition to withdrawing rice grain from wholesale markets.
He had also noted that the state’s coal reserves were critical and, if not replenished soon, there would be serious power outages, hampering wheat planting operations.
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