Power cut extended to industries

SlanderVander

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posted on 13 years ago — updated on 1 second ago

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HYDERABAD: Hemmed in on all sides by the Telangana Sakala Janula Samme, people in most parts of Telangana, particularly the state..

HYDERABAD: Hemmed in on all sides by the Telangana Sakala Janula Samme, people in most parts of Telangana, particularly the state capital, were only too happy to stay home Sunday. With the entire transportation system crippled for the last three days, there was nowhere to go. The end of the 48hour rail roko at 6 pm Sunday brought passengers back to the railway platforms but the logjam in the rail system is likely to make travel difficult for a few more days.
The return of autos to the capital's roads will ease commuters' woes from Monday, but the beginning of a new week brings not much more promise. Talks between striking APSRTC workers and management failed Sunday and there will be no buses on Monday.News on the power front is decidedly grimmer with the demandsupply gap widening to above 27 million units (MU). The harried power utility Transco decided to extend power cuts to indusry too from Monday: a total blackout for one day a week and four hours at peak demand time every day: from 6.30 pm to 10.30 p.m. Not counting the unofficial power cuts across the state.

With Singareni Collieres recording nil attendance by miners in Karimnagar, Warangal and Adilabad, the state's thermal stations are starved of power and emergency shipments have been held up by the rail roko. APGenco's coal stock has dwindled to about 2.6 lakh MT, sufficient for five days.

On Sunday, the RTC made a success of its crisis operation to ferry candidates taking the APPSC exam to their test centres but failed to cajole its drivers and conductors to come back to work. Leaders of the RTC Employees Union came out of the talks Sunday afternoon and declared that the strike would continue until the Centre committed itself to creation of a separate state.

For the candidates taking the APPSC exam, with buses and autos off the roads, they spent anxious hours at specially designated pickup points for securityescorted public buses or haggling with strikebreaker auto drivers.