“Power”less Mumbai :-(

There’s severe dearth of power (of more than 5700 MW) in Maharashtra now.
Much has been written about the power cuts in newspapers on an almost daily basis.
Now, it’s my turn to add to that “much” :-)). How else can I give vent to my feeling of frustration?

The average Mumbaikar was completely new to the concept of a power cut/load shedding until almost 2 years back. He had only heard of such a happening in some remote, interior villages but never expected that he would be bearing the brunt of a power crisis in, of all places, Mumbai. But suddenly, there was a shortfall of power as a result of which, the Govt. announced, there would be load shedding all over the state. (But I am confining myself to writing only about the situation in Mumbai and Thane.)

The suburbs in Mumbai reeling under the power cut are Mulund, Bhandup & KanjurMarg. The load shedding duration here is of 4 hours on an average. The whole of Thane district (including Navi Mumbai) also suffers from this pain. Dombivli n surroundings have a 7-hour power cut. (Note that this area has been suffering the maximum and not just for the past 2 years, but for the past 6 years. I have friends and relatives staying there, you know. )

The figures stated above don’t tell the whole story. That is just the “scheduled” duration of load shedding. Quite a number of times, there are unscheduled power cuts of varied durations too.

This was just to give everyone some background info, especially to the people staying in Mumbai city (BSES supplies power here) and those who use power supplied by Reliance Energy because they don’t suffer from this power-cut “demon” as of today.

Why is it that only some areas of Greater Mumbai are being made to suffer?
Our Govt. always has the best of excuses ready. MSEDC (Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company), that is responsible for supplying power to these areas is the one that’s suffering from the shortfall, it seems :-((

There’s no definite idea or plan of how to overcome the shortage either. According to local/national dailies, the govt. plans to buy more power (and thereby loot the unassuming and unquestioning consumer more) but there’s going to be no respite or even a reduction on the power cut front (Mumbai Mirror, 14th Feb.).

Various articles about the misuse of electricity (in spite of the crisis in the state) have been published. All govt. establishments in the areas mentioned above, especially Bhandup (which houses the local MSEDC office) continue to get uninterrupted power supply even when the areas surrounding them are drowned in darkness.
We often say or hear that India is a democracy. As far as my limited knowledge tells me,

“A democracy is supposed to be a govt. of, by and for the people”, isn’t it?
Then why is it that we are made to suffer, sweat and pay while all the babus enjoy in their air-conditioned offices and homes?
Lights and fans being left switched on in govt. offices have become common “breaking news” now-a-days. But there is something more than this that is more alarming. It is the public apathy that is of much more concern.
Besides sitting at home and complaining, what measures do we (including me :-)) take or have taken to address our problem(s)? Whenever we gather at a public place or some of us get together, we discuss this, lament a little about it till we are bored and later, of course, forget it. Public memory is indeed short-lived and the govt. simply takes advantage of this :-)

But Govt. apathy is not new to us. The least we can do to help ourselves is take steps towards minimizing wastage and/ or misuse of electricity.
The bright lights illuminating the various malls all over the city can definitely be reduced or even switched off, at least in broad daylight. The neon advertising boards all over the city need to be removed first. (They can advertise on normal signboards, yaar!)
They not only waste electricity but have also harmed the (already diminishing) greenery in the city in great amounts. These are just a few examples of how to save large quantities of power.

Also, we must get our own houses in order.
Ensure that you don’t leave the lights, fans, TV, computers etc “ON” when they are not in use.
Do not use lights during the day, unless absolutely necessary.
Use low-watt bulbs and tubes.
Spread the message to others.

Remember that conservation of electricity will only help us and the generations to follow live a better life. Else, it won’t be long before we all are drowned in a sea of darkness, quite literally ;-)

I am NOT preaching or lecturing anyone or writing an essay, for that matter :-) But what started off as just a blog turned out to be this long article. Sorry to bore u, guys! But this is the best place for me to voice my thoughts and I’m doing just that.