Demand-supply gap in water,electricity widens,adds to residents’ woes

The majority of power requirement for the city is met through central generating power stations of National Thermal Power Corporation,National Hydro Power Corporation and Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited. In addition,power is purchased from BBMB as well as the open market depending on the demand. At times,electricity is purchased on a daily basis to tide over the crisis.

Apart from this,the electricity department also calls tenders for purchasing additional electricity between May and October when the demand increases. During peak summers,the price at which every unit of electricity is available increases. Tenders are called in advance to ensure that the rates are reasonable. This year,the clearance from MHA is awaited even though the month of May has passed.

SE (Electricity) M P Singh says that additional electricity keeping in view the demand in the city is being purchased. He adds that the power outages are due to overloading because of which fault develops. This takes time to repair.

Over the years with the increasing population,opening of new malls,the load requirement has increased. Not many residents have come forward to declare the exact load. Due to overloading,residents have to suffer unscheduled power cuts.

In the case of water supply,the city receives 87 million gallons daily (mgd) of water. Out of this,67 mgd is canal water and the remaining is from tubewells. The peak summer demand in the city is 113 mgd. While proposals had been mooted for getting additional water supply through Phase V and VI of Kajauli,due to the dispute between Punjab and Haryana over water sharing,the issue is pending in the High Court.

Till this gets resolved,there is no chance of city getting additional water. The project for augmentation of water supply had received the nod from the Centre and funds under JNNURM approved. However,the project at present stands cancelled.