Delhi has just a day's coal stock left, the national capital territory's power minister Satyendra Jain has warned. This, the minister rued, was despite the fact that there have been no pending payments on the part of the government to power distribution companies.

Delhi’s power minister had said on Thursday that the national capital could face power outages due to a short supply of coal at key locations, including metro trains and hospitals.

Delhi’s Power Minister, in a letter, has requested the Central government to ensure an adequate supply of coal to the city’s thermal plants to meet its demand. As per Jain, Delhi meets 26-30 percent of its electricity requirement through Dadri and Unchahar power stations.

“These power stations play an important role in preventing blackouts in some parts of Delhi and are also essential to ensure the continuous supply of electricity to Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, hospitals and people in the upcoming summer season,” the minister said.

“Due to disruption of power supply from Dadri-II and Unchahar power stations, there may be a problem in 24-hours power supply to many essential institutions, including Delhi Metro and Delhi government hospitals,” a government statement read.

The minister assured Delhiites that the state government was closely monitoring the situation to ensure there are no power outages.

High power demand

This power crisis in Delhi comes amid heat waves sweeping the country. India witnessed the highest electricity demand of 204.65 GW on Thursday. This was 12.1 percent higher than in April the previous year.

Meanwhile, the demand is expected to remain high as heatwave spells will persist over northwest and central India during the next five days, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD). The department has issued an “orange alert” to several states like Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

IMD also said Delhi would continue to reel under an intense heatwave with the maximum temperature likely to touch 44 degrees Celsius on Friday. The minimum temperature in the national capital was recorded two notches above normal at 25.8 degrees Celsius.

Delhi saw the hottest April day in 12 years at 43.5 degrees Celsius on Thursday. The national capital recorded a maximum temperature of 43.7 degrees Celsius on April 18, 2010.

First Published:Apr 29, 2022 12:49 PM IST