A Rajasthan minister asserts that he was on the verge of resolving the state’s electricity problem, only to have his plans disrupted by the Russia-Ukraine conflict. A video of his statement has gone viral.
Shale Mohammad, Cabinet Minister of Minority Affairs and Waqf of Rajasthan, claimed that he was close to solving the chronic electricity crisis in the state but the Russia-Ukraine war threw spanners in the works over his plans. An undated video of the minister making the claims has gone viral on the internet.
BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to share the video of the Rajasthan Minister claiming that he had almost solved the electricity issue, but the Russia-Ukraine conflict disrupted it.
In various regions of Rajasthan, power outages have become a common occurrence at night, affecting both industrial operations and the daily lives of residents in municipalities, district headquarters, and rural areas. The surge in electricity demand can be attributed to the prolonged absence of monsoon rains, a report published in Business Standard in August 2023 said.
Bhaskar A Sawant, the principal secretary of the state’s energy department, disclosed that the daily peak electricity demand has reached approximately 16,000 megawatts (Mw), creating a deficit of around 2,000 Mw. He assured that divisional headquarters and essential emergency services have been exempted from these power interruptions.
Sawant had also mentioned that two units, equivalent to 910 Mw, of the Chabbra thermal plant under the Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam were presently inactive, undergoing routine annual maintenance work.
Furthermore, a 250 Mw unit at the Kota thermal plant, two units totalling 910 Mw at the Suratgarh thermal plant, and one 250 Mw unit at the Chhabra Thermal plant were temporarily shut down due to unforeseen technical issues. These units were expected to be operational again in September 2023.
In addition to these challenges, there was a substantial 38% reduction in wind energy generation. The heightened demand for electricity, coupled with the closure of these power units, had necessitated enforced power cuts lasting for at least one to one and a half hours during nighttime in August 2023, mainly resulting from the decreased rainfall.