Minister meets discom officials amid power cuts in Kolkata

West Bengal Power Minister Aroop Biswas on Friday met officials of distribution company CESC and expressed concern over the rise in power cuts in Kolkata.

He asked CESC to investigate the increasing power cuts, and ensure a steady supply in the city, officials said.

A CESC official said the power cuts were a result of overloading caused by the indiscriminate installation of air-conditioners without sanction.

In the last three months, CESC has received applications for the installation of only 45,000 new ACs, but an estimated 1.5 lakh ACs were installed in the city, the official said.

Two-thirds of the people installed ACs without obtaining permission from the CESC, he said.

''When there is an overload at the transformer level, the power gets tripped to protect the system from further damage. The power is restored when the load falls within the permissible range,'' he added.

There is no power shortage with the demand ranging between 2,450-2,495 mw over the last few days, the official said.

A team of nearly 5,000 personnel was addressing the faults, and the disruption happened in only seven-eight of the 8,700 transformers, he said.

CESC is likely to issue notices to consumers who exceed their permitted power capacity, the official said.

Power cuts in parts of Kolkata over the last few days added to the woes of the people who were already reeling under a sweltering heat that scorched the city.

The minister directed the discom to raise awareness about the usage of unsanctioned loads.