Urging the people of Jammu and Kashmir to conserve power,the government today said there will be a shortage of 500 megawatts of power supply to the state for the next few days due to a fall in thermal and hydel power generation in northern India. Due to less generation from thermal and hydel power units in northern India,power allocation to the state has been affected to the extent of around 500 MW,the J-K Development Commissioner (Power) said. This is due to problems in coal supply,lean generation in some of NTPC's units and diminishing river discharge,resulting in a consequent fall in hydel generation,he said. There has been a shortage of power in the entire northern grid as also the state of J&K and maintenance of grid discipline has been a problem over some days,while frequency hovers around 49 Hz, the Development Commissioner said. This situation has resulted in distress calls from the northern grid for unscheduled curtailment to avoid a grid collapse,he said. The Development Commissioner has requested the public to extend their support for saving energy by way of minimising the use of air conditioners and heaters. The Jammu Chief Engineer,Maintenance,said that power supply in Jammu province is likely to be disturbed as a result of the shortage of 500 MW. The general public is requested to use power judiciously and bear the inconvenience, he said.
