CHENNAI: North Indian states have suffered electricity cuts and face further outages because of a lack of coal, an analysis of government data and interviews with residents found, contradicting government assurances there is enough power.widespread outages in neighbouring ChinaMore than half of India's 135 coal-fired power plants, which in total supply around 70 per cent of India's electricity, have fuel stocks of less than three days, data from the federal grid operator showed.
Energy supplies are under strain globally as prices surge and demand and supply chains are strained by the recovery of consumption following lockdowns to contain the pandemic.India's power shortfall in the first seven days of October was more than 21 times the deficit in the same period last year, and more than four times of that in 2019. Supply shortages over the last two years have largely been restricted to the strife-torn region of Jammu and Kashmir.
Jharkhand recorded a power deficit of 18 to 24 per cent, while power supply to Bihar and Rajasthan was between 6 and 17 per cent below requirements, the POSOCO data revealed. India's southern state of Kerala has asked its citizens to restrict use of electrical appliances such as grinders and dryers after sunset, a senior official in the state's electricity board said.