Punjab industry hit by 8-10 hour power cuts as generation shortfall widens

Punjab's power grid is under strain after a unit at Nabha Power's Rajpura plant and another at the Talwandi Sabo plant in Mansa went offline, cutting roughly 1,360 MW of generation. The loss has led to 8-10 hour daily blackouts for factories in Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Amritsar and Mohali, with even households and farms receiving 3-4 hour unscheduled outages. PSPCL chairman-cum-managing director Basant Garg confirmed the curtailments and noted that only consumers on 66-kV lines are exempt.

The utility has sought electricity from the open market, but a national coal shortage hampers additional supply. Industry leaders are urging the government to consider a weekly full-day shutdown instead of daily long-duration cuts, while political opponents blame the AAP administration for the crisis.