Lucknow:
Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has said that there is no proof that his state, Uttar Pradesh, contributed to India's largest power outage by exceeding its quota, and putting the Northern supply grid under massive strain.
Mr Yadav said that his government will examine allegations that for two days in a row, it drew more than its allotted share of power, plunging the country into back-to-back blackouts. On Monday, 300 million people in seven states and Delhi were without electricity after the Northern grid crashed. On Tuesday, the crisis was twice as severe, affecting 19 states and more than 600 million people.
Governments in Uttar Pradesh have a tradition of blaming past administrations for the state's many problems. Mr Yadav did not break with that, blaming former Chief Minister Mayawati for the state's hunger for power. But when Mayawati was in power, her government had arranged additional power supply from Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and the Western grid. This meant that the Northern grid - which crashed on Monday and Tuesday- was not over-burdened.
But the new Akhilesh Yadav government which came to power in March has organized no parallel power supply. He said today that he will look at developing and promoting solar energy in parts like Bundelkhand, one of the country's most under-developed regions
The Central Electricity Regulator Commission, which serves as the power monitor and regulator, has summoned the chief engineer of the UP Power Corporation on July 14 to explain its repeated over-drawing of power from the Northern grid. States including Haryana and Punjab have been warned that violation of quotas will be taken seriously and that any state that jeopardizes the safety of a grid could find itself disconnected.
After one of the hottest summers in recent years, the North has seen a weak monsoon, which has meant lower hydroelectric generation of power than expected. In states like UP, Punjab and Haryana, farmers have resorted to using water pumps, drawing more power than usual.