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Despite claims by Noida power authorities to provide an uninterrupted supply of power in the city, unscheduled and long power cuts are troubling the residents.
According to the residents, Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd (UPPCL), Noida Division, official has turned blind eye to this whole situation. KG Puri, Superintending Engineer, UPPCL, is of the view that in Noida, the power situation is better than in other areas. The demand in the city is around 475MW and the supply matches, so there is no question of increasing the supply.
"In fact Noida is the only city where the theft is minimum," said Puri.
Harsvardhan, a resident of sector-36, completely disagrees with Puri. He said, "I don't remember a day, when there was no power cut."
The situation in Greater Noida is no better. It started with a consumer base of around 6000 in 1993, which rose up to 44,000 now. Likewise there was an increase in the demand of electricity from 20MW to 45MW in 2004.
The Noida Power Company Limited (NPCL) current demand is 100MW and is expected to go up to 150 MW in another 2-3 years.
However the electricity supply falls short by 20MW. Rajiv Goyal, senior manager (operation), NPCL said, "The Multi-dimensional growth and increase in townships is the main reason behind the shortage. Uttar Pradesh Power Corporation Ltd is also following an unfair practice. It has stopped giving 10MW additional power, apart from 45MW, which they were supposed to."
In order to meet the rising electricity demands NPCL also plans to come up with an electricity generation plant at Mirzapur by 2012. The production capacity of this plant will be 500MW. The company has also invested Rs 30 crore to enhance the transmission network in Greater Noida.
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