AGARTALA, June 10 (TIWN): Power situation in Tripura is tightening by the day as demand keeps soaring higher, Tripura Power Minister Manik Dey said here today.

Speaking to reporters at the civil secretariat here today, the minister said heat wave blowing across the NE region alongwith rest of the country has resulted in severe decline of water level. The scarcity of water has affected most hydroelectric projects in the region, which largely rule the power generation scenario in the Northeast, Dey said.

Speaking about the state’s own generation, Power Minister Dey said that Tripura is usually left with 70-72 MW power on an average after giving away the scheduled share to other states from the region. Since the re-operationalization of OTPC powered Palatana project, the state is drawing 85 MW on an average. Around 40 MW is drawn from other states of NE which operated their power plants with funding from the NEC. Tripura is currently estimated to have an average daily demand of 250 MW.

The minister noted that shares from different projects funded by the North Eastern Council (NEC) come only for a few hours in the evening.

“We are having 200 MW at the best in a day even if we have all shares from other states in proper timeframe”, Dey said adding that average power shortfall current stands at 50 MW per day.

The situation has exceedingly escalated in the night. “We used to have a maximum demand of 160 MW in the night till last year. Current estimates say that the demands now stands at 210 MW”, the minister said. “There is no other way but to resort to periodic power-cuts”, he added.

Asked about possible reasons behind the sudden rise in power demand, Dey said that use of electrical and electronic utilities have largely increased in the urban areas of the state. “We have got reports of rising use of air conditioners and other electrical household appliances in the rural areas as well”, he added.