Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh today directed Powercom to ensure eight hours of uninterrupted power supply to the agriculture sector in the forthcoming paddy season, while providing 24 hours of supply to other categories.After an exceptionally well managed wheat procurement season, the Punjab government is now gearing up to ensure fool-proof arrangements for a smooth and hassle-free paddy season.Reviewing the power situation for the season, the Chief Minister asked Secretary Power A Venu Prasad to also ensure time-bound redressal of power related complaints of the farmers and other consumers through a 24/7 mechanism with adequate manpower.The Secretary said the department had, for effective redressal of complaints during the summer/ Paddy season, deployed additional outsourced labour, with 2000 people having been hired on temporary basis, from June 1 to September 30. Other material such as transformer, PVC wire etc. had also been arranged to meet the farmers/ requirement, he said.The single-window complaint number of 1912 has also been strengthened to ensure that the farmers do not face any delay in redressal of their complaints and grievances, he informed the Chief Minister.
Captain Amarinder also reviewed the status of power demand in the state and was informed by the Secretary that the Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd (PSPCL) had tied up sufficient power in short-term open access from other states to source the power demand for the forthcoming paddy season.Coupled with in-house generation capacity, the additional power would be sufficient to meet the demand expected to arise during the paddy season, he told the Chief Minister.The total available capacity as on June 1, 2017, is 13960 MW, including Central Sector allocation and IPPs (Independent Power Producers) within Punjab. The state has strong and robust transmission and sub transmission systems to cater to the expected demand of 12500 MW, with 89.39 lakh consumers in all categories.With 13.50 lakh operational agriculture tubewell this year, the state recorded metered sale of 1800 lakh unit per day in the month of May against the average 1600 Lakh unit due to an increase of 10 percent in demand in industrial and domestic sectors.The total installed capacity for transmission and distribution is 27840 MVA (Mega Volt Ampere).Armed with these capacities, the state is well placed to provide 8 hours supply to agriculture sector and 24 hours supply to other categories without any problem, said the spokesperson, adding that not a single power sub-station in Punjab was overloaded.