Union Home Minister Amit Shah has called a high-level meeting on the current power crisis in the country, news agency ANI reported. Power Minister RK Singh, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav and Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi will also be present in the meeting.
This meeting is being held amid the news of power cuts from many states in the midst of summer.
During the pre-summer months in many parts of northern India, the country’s electricity demand has reached record highs in decades.
A Reuters analysis of government data showed electricity demand rose 13.2% to 135.4 billion kilowatt hours (kWh), as electricity needs in the north rose between 16% and 75%.
Unprecedented power use resulted in widespread power cuts in April, as coal supplies dwindled. Electricity supply fell 2.41 billion units, or 1.8%, from demand, the worst since October 2015.
In Delhi, the Aam Aadmi Party government has already claimed that there is acute shortage of coal. Delhi Power Minister Satyendar Jain had said there is an “acute shortage” of coal due to non-availability of adequate number of railway rakes and there may be “difficulty” in power supply if the power plant is shut down.
Union Power Minister RK Singh hit back at the Delhi government, accusing it of misleading the people. In a letter to the Delhi Power Minister, Singh expressed his displeasure over the Delhi government misleading the public.
Responding to a letter by the Delhi Power Minister expressing concern about the coal stock position of some NTPC stations supplying power to the NCT of Delhi, Singh said the figures were incorrect.
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