UDAIPUR/PALATANA, April 21 (TIWN): April end will bring acute power shortage for the people of Tripura as OTPC is scheduled to commence shut down in both units of Palatana from 23rd April, said a highly placed sources in OTPC. Already scheduled shut down in Unit-I commenced from 17th of April and it will continue upto 24th of this month. This shut down is said to be a scheduled one as there are some maintenance works to be done in Unti-I and it has to be done after some intervals, said an OTPC engineer over phone on Wednesday morning. He said that plant needs some maintenance after a long gap and this is exactly what is going on. On 24th April the maintenance work is likely to be completed. However, on 23rd and 24th of April complete shut down will be taken in both units- Unit-I and Unit- II. It is expected that by midnight of 24th April Unit-I will resume its generation . If it is not possible by midnight of 25th April Unit-I will be in operation.

 Once the Unit-I resumes generation , Unit-II will go for 7 days shut down.Thus, it is clear that in the scorching heat of April  the state will suffer from acute power crisis.

At present Tripura's peak hour power demand is around 260 MW while Tripura's internal production is around 90MW ( 27mg from Baramura, 59 from Rukhia, 3 from Damboor hydal plant) . As of now Tripura is having a shortage of around 170 MW . To cope with the situation TSECL has no choice but to purchase power from outside the state.

Speaking  to TIWN TSECL CMD Shyamal K . Roy said ," Shutdown in Palatana has started and we too are coping with the situation buying power from outside. There will be no problem during the complete shutdown of OTPC . " However, there are certainly reasons for concerns as in the past state witnessed acute power cuts whenever OTPC went for shutdown in Palatana. This time also the situation is likely to be the same unless TSECL continues with buying power from outside uninterruptedly" .

However people across the State already suffering from miserable load-sheddings, acute power crisis, so TSECL CMD’s version is not matching the reality.

Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar sold 'load-shedding free' dream to voters but the fact is miserable conditions remain unchanged since 22 years.