Ferozepore, June 27
Facing acute power crisis Punjab and Haryana have decided to purchase additional power from the Transmission Corporation of Andhra Pradesh Limited, AP Transco. The power supply to Punjab and Haryana will start from July 1. Each state will get 100 mw routed through the Power Trading Corporation, a Central agency formed recently to procure power from surplus states and cater it to deficit states.

According to a senior official of the AP Transco, the corporation is also supplying 30 mw to Tamil Nadu against the arrangement for 100 mw, the maximum to be made available to that state depending on its requirement as per the understanding reached between the two neighbours.

The Gujarat Power Corporation has also signed a similar agreement with AP Transco to overcome the power crisis. The power transfer is being made through the Chittoor-Thiruvellam 220-kv transmission line. It was supplied to Karnataka recently for 10 days against a separate understanding it had with AP Transco for the purchase of 100 mw.

The officials further stated that the supply to the three northern states was being made as per the agreement signed by the PTC with AP Transco. The transmission would be done through the Ramagundam-Chandrapur 400-kv line. In all cases each unit will cost Rs 2.50, of which about 50 paise will be the net profit.

Andhra Pradesh’s power position is likely to be comfortable in the coming few months with about 600 mw to be available as surplus.

Meanwhile, the Punjab State Electricity Board has been able to ensure only eight hours of regular power supply to the farmers for irrigating the paddy crop. With the demand for power increasing by 6 to 8 per cent every corresponding year the Punjab Government has failed to increase the production. Moreover, no new proposed units are being set up. Neither it has proposed to renovate the existing thermal power plants so that the production be increased to more than 30 per cent of what they are producing.