Heatwave: Rajasthan's electricity demand surge 20 per cent

Jaipur (Rajasthan) [India], May 23 (ANI): Amid the surge in demand for electricity due to prevailing heatwaves, the Energy Minister of Rajasthan, Hiralal Nagar has instructed all the officers and employees of the Electricity department to ensure uninterrupted power supply to the state.
He instructed officials to ensure adequate power supply to meet increasing demand while addressing outages promptly.
He also asked the officials to continuously monitor the efforts to resolve the electricity issues during the summer season and ensure coordination between the departments. He instructed the officials to take the necessary steps to ensure smooth power supply during peak hours.
Speaking to ANI, Nagar conveyed the reasons behind the inconvenience and outages. He stated that efforts are being made to meet the additional demands, as in upcoming days, the 1500 MW (megawatt) power plant which was inoperational earlier, will now become functional.
Nagar said, "In view of the rising electricity demand, we have cancelled leaves and instructed officials not to leave the headquarters without prior notice to meet the demands and ensure smooth power supply. We have informed them regarding the need to ensure uninterrupted power supply over the state, especially in rural areas."
He added due to severe heatwaves and soaring temperatures, the electricity demand has surged 20 per cent.
"We are monitoring the situation continuously. To meet the adequate demands, we are purchasing electricity from other states and in upcoming days we are reopening our power plant with a capacity of generating 1500 MW," Hiralal Nagar told ANI.
Meanwhile taking a jibe at the previous government, the Energy Minister said, "Due to the negligence towards the energy sector by the previous Ashok Gehlot government, the common man is facing hardships today. But our government is making continuous efforts and improvements in this sector to provide relief to the residents."
Earlier, on Tuesday, Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma instructed officials of the Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) and Power Distribution Corporations to take measures to ensure uninterrupted power supply and regular drinking water.
He also directed officials to widely circulate the helpline numbers and all complaints will be resolved promptly in a time-bound manner. He further instructed to establish and monitor control rooms at district and state levels.
The Public Health Engineering Department has set up a control room to solve all the problems related to drinking water. People can register their complaints on helpline number 0141-2222585.
Power complaints can also be lodged on the helpline numbers operated by various discoms or on the BijliMitra app. (ANI)