Bengal’s power demand may soar 21 pc this Durga Puja, cross 12,000 MW: Minister

Kolkata, Aug 27 (PTI) Reviewing arrangements for uninterrupted electricity supply during the upcoming Durga Puja festival on Wednesday, West Bengal Power Minister Aroop Biswas said the state projects record demand this year, with peak load expected to touch 12,050 MW on ‘Tritiya’, two days before the Puja begins, compared to 9,912 MW around the same time last year, which is an increase of over 21 per cent.

At the high-level meeting in the state power department headquarters, the minister noted that temporary electricity connections for Durga Puja have seen a sharp rise.

“In 2011, there were 20,970 temporary connections with a load of 210 MW. By 2024, this rose to 50,550 connections with 1,348 MW load — an increase of 141 per cent in connections and 542 per cent in load,” the department said.

Last year, the state recorded 56,034 temporary puja connections with a load of 1,403 MW, the minister said.

For this year’s festivities, around 79,414 personnel (73,414 from the power department and 6,000 from private utility CESC) will remain on round-the-clock duty, supported by nearly 3,700 mobile vans to address emergencies.

The festival will be celebrated from September 28 to October 2 this year.

Launching a central Puja Control Room, Biswas said it would function 24x7 during the festive period.

Consumers facing issues in distribution areas can call the toll-free number 19121 or Vidyut Bhavan, headquarters of the power department, control room numbers 8900793503 and 8900793504.

In CESC areas, helplines 9831079666 and 9831083700, and call centre number 1912 will remain operational.

The minister also announced that the state’s first 660 MW supercritical thermal power plant, a first for eastern India, will be inaugurated by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee later this year.

Senior officials from the power department, West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company, West Bengal State Transmission Company, Power Development Corporation, CESC, DPL, ERPC, Coal India, NTPC, DVC, ECL, Power Grid, NHPC and Indian Railways were present at the meeting. PTI BSM NN