NEW DELHI, India: Unlike the Indian cricket team that at least looks stronger on paper but fails to deliver, New Delhi's local power generating units are neither strong on paper nor in reality. Every summer Delhi residents are forced to sweat as shortages in the power grid prevail - from where it is supposed to get 83 percent of its requirements. A balanced 17 percent power supply that Delhi's plants are supposed to generate also falls short of capacity. Because Delhi's own units are in shambles, the city's dependence on an unreliable grid increases and people are forced to suffer long outages. While work on Delhi's new power plants - 1,350 MW Pragati II and 700-800 MW Pragati III - is likely to commence as soon as the agreements for long-term supply of gas are signed with Petronet, existing plants [except Pragati] have rarely been able to generate to their full capacity. In 2006, Indraprastha Power Generation Company Limited (IPGCL) - which runs several other plants in India - submitted that many of the local plants were contributing 15-20 percent of the power requirements of Delhi. Since closing them for repairs would mean loss of this whopping share, the company admits, "maintenance and overhauling of units were postponed from time to time, which resulted in the deterioration of the plant conditions. It reached the 44 degree Celsius mark for the first time this summer; however the India Meteorological Office (IMD) says that heatwaves are not abnormal for this time of the year as Indian summers start early in early March. An IMD weather official told The Daily Star Egypt, "Both the maximum and minimum temperatures are four degrees above normal. However, it was 44 degrees Celsius around the same time in 2004 as well. But as roads bear a deserted look on hot Delhi days, most residents are forced to cancel outings. With power cuts in many areas, the rise in temperature only added to their woes. "It was almost impossible to step out and difficult to stay home at the same time without air conditioning, said Nik-hil Raj, an MBA student attending IIT Kanpur University . A senior citizen from Safdarjung Enclave compound, JR Gupta added, "We all wanted to relax at home but in the evening, the power supply snapped and we were without electricity for almost three hours. While most residents are sweating it out without coolers and air conditioners, the erratic power supply is proving too costly for some. Anil Sood, a resident of the compound Vasant Kunj, has already incurred a loss of over Rs. 20,000 ($ 500) last month. His TV set and microwave oven crashed due to fluctuations. "There were problems in the TV set twice last month. I spent about Rs 2,000 ($ 50) repairing it. I had to buy a new set. Sood has written to the secretary of the Delhi Electricity Regulatory commission and BSES Rajdhani so that his complaint would be on the record. As the start of yet another summer in India takes shape, residents across the capital give weekly complaints of three to five hours of power cuts. Parts of South Delhi remain powerless for two hours, while east, central and west Delhi also have intermittent cuts throughout the day. "My three-year-old grandson, who has just started going to kindergarten has a tough time getting up when we have to deal with over four hours of power cuts from the night before, said Ramesh Sharma, president of a well known Delhi compound. Peak power demand was recorded 3191 MW, a problem aggravated from the annual maintenance closure of some of the units of Delhi's power generating stations. For a population of 15 million, 958 MW is not enough, said Delhi United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) representative, Neera Burra. The Chief Minister of Delhi, Sheila Dikshit directed the power department, Delhi Transco and several other power distribution companies (distcoms) to make public and daily status reports relating to power supply for people know the schedule in advance. "There should be no power cuts as we have adequate power. And even when distcoms have to resort to power cuts, it should be only for a maximum period of one hour or so, she said after a meeting between legislators from east Delhi and officials from distcom BSES. But for Lajpat Nagar, a suburb of south Delhi, residents are feeling the heat. While a five-hour daily power cut is frustrating enough, the timing of the outages has just cascaded the effect. Residents go without power during mornings and evenings while water supply too has been hit hard. The IMD predicts the temperature will continue to touch highs of 45 degrees throughout April as summer sets in for monsoon season. "From October, we start monitoring global weather changes, says M Rajeevan, captain of the IMD. The south-west monsoon is a cryptic phenomenon. Rajaveen said, "During the last 10 years, the monsoon has been below normal with two droughts. "Questions on whether it will rain or pour depend on many factors, he said. Rajeevan leads a team of IMD meteorologists who predict rainfall from June-September and issue warnings if fields will parch in an unanticipated drought like that of 2002. Data on oceans and melting snow thousands of miles away from New Delhi is taken into account when predicting the kind of monsoon Delhi will have. When parts of the Pacific Ocean warms, the air above it also heats up and rises, leading to chances of a severe drought in India. However, if temperatures in the eastern part of the Pacific rise, India's monsoon may be below normal, but the influence of the central Pacific is stronger, whereas a cold spell over the North Atlantic Ocean may result in a weak monsoon in India. "The Himalayas along with Eurasia could also affect the intensity of the monsoon if snowfall increases in that region, an IMD official confirmed. "Just as warming over the eastern equatorial Indian Ocean is unfavorable for the Indian monsoon, he said. Sixty percent of the world s population depends on monsoons, especially in Asia. "But global warming especially doesn t help our team because it makes our predictions seem filled with errors, and that of course makes us lose our credibility as India's leading source for weather news, Rajaveen said.
