Ropar, June 11
With the rise in power demand in the state following paddy plantation, all major cities of the Punjab, except Ludhiana, will have to face six hours’ power cuts while in rural areas, the cuts are likely to extend to more than 10 hours every day. The power cuts in Ludhiana, the major industrial town of the state, will extend to only three hours, said PSEB sources.

The PSEB sources said the power cuts were being imposed from today as the state had been facing an additional load of 300 lakh units every day to supply power to tubewells to meet the requirement of farmers for paddy plantation. There is also a shortage of 150 lakh units of power in the state as the demand for it increased following rise in the temperature.

The sources added that the power demand in the state following paddy plantation and rise in temperature is 1,250 lakh units while the state had been getting power supply of only 1100 lakh units from all sources.

The sources said the power crisis would further aggravate during the peak time of the paddy plantation, as the PSEB would require about 1350 lakh units power supply to meet the demand.

The sources said the state had been getting 415 lakh units of power supply from the three thermal plants in the state, including the super thermal plant in Ropar, Lehra Mohabbat and Bathinda. The Ropar thermal plant has been contributing 250 lakhs units, while 100 lakh units come from Lehra Mohhabat and 65 units from the Bathinda thermal plants.

In addition to it, all hydel projects in the state had been supplying 350 lakhs units , including 160 lakhs units from the Bhakra to the state. In addition to it the PSEB had been getting power supply from the central grid and other states. But the PSEB had not yet made arrangements for the power crisis as other states supplied very less power to the state, the sources added.