Lights out in 'power corridors'

Running short of supply to offices of various union ministries, NDMC resorts to load shedding

THE heat is on in the Capital and no one can escape the fury, not even the political elite.

With the usage of air conditioners going up at government offices in the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) area, ministry and government agencies are facing power cuts. Starting from 9:30 am each wing has started seeing outages of 90 minutes till 6 pm to bring the mounting power crisis in the city under control. A circular has been sent to all departments at Shastri Bhawan and Krishi Bhawan giving out the schedule of the load shedding.

The notice says, "Due to an increase in the number of air conditioners and other power requirements on account of renovation and modernisation work, the electrical load of Shastri Bhawan has increased.

NDMC has put a restriction on drawing excess power. Hence we are compelled to carry out load shedding. However, shedding will be carried out in case of power shortage. We appeal to all consumers to conserve energy and adopt the habit of switching off in order to overcome the crisis."

Similar circulars have been sent to Krishi Bhawan and various ministries falling in the NDMC area. The objective is to cut down power consumption by half, which has almost doubled in recent times with the rampant abuse of air conditioners.

"The power consumption in the NDMC area has increased tremendously in recent times and we are being asked to conserve energy by regular power cuts. The problem is more during summers due to excessive use of air conditioners. The gap between supply and demand of power is widening by the day. The power load at all departments is too much," said one of the officials looking after electricity requirements, in the area requesting anonymity.

MiD DAY had earlier reported how air conditioners are being misused at ministries. Babus in the department of revenue, ministry of power, ministry of petroleum and ministry of human resource development are chilling out with 682 air conditioners installed at their offices.

Interestingly, more than 545 of these are running in contravention of the rules set by the Directorate of Estate, ministry of urban development. The department is responsible for the administration and management of the office buildings of various government departments.

According to rules, officers only of the rank of joint secretary and above are entitled to get an air-conditioned office. Most of these facilities are situated in the North Block, Shram Shakti Bhawan and Shastri Bhawan.

9 hours Average load shedding at Shastri Bhawan and Krishi Bhawan

The Breakup